Watch My Neighbors the Yamadas For Free

Very well executed

Purely Joyful Movie!

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Did you people see the same film I saw?

From the director of Grave of the Fireflies & Only Yesterday, My Neighbours the Yamadas is Studio Ghibli's first fully digital film and although the approach it takes to bring its tale to life is noticeably different from the studio's previous works, the attention to its story & characters exhibits the same level of commitment as before.The story of My Neighbours the Yamadas follows the life & misadventures of the Yamadas family in contemporary Japan and is told in a series of vignettes. Each segment deals with different themes, explores its characters & their relationships with others, and through these brief snippets, the film contemplates on both the delights & hardships of life itself.Written & directed by Isao Takahata, the film adopts the narrative style of a comic strip and follows a non-linear route. Each episode focuses on a particular family member & covers their relationship dynamics with others, all expressed in a believable & relatable manner. But the core ingredient that keeps everything glued together is their love for one another, despite the numerous flaws.The look & feel of the film is considerably different from Studio Ghibli's traditional anime style. The use of colours & character sketches are kept to its minimum, edges of the canvas are left blank for the most part, and lighting is pitch-perfect. Editing allows the tale to unfolds at an unhurried pace but one unintended result of it is that the story feels much longer than its 104 minutes runtime.On an overall scale, My Neighbours the Yamadas is an exquisitely humoured, delightfully engaging & thoroughly amusing cinema that utilises its storytelling medium quite efficiently. Finely directed, deftly scripted & wonderfully animated, this social commentary on life, family, marriage & kids from Takahata is yet another winning material in the legendary animation studio's canon. Do not miss it.

When I first started watching the movie and I saw the way it was drawn - colored pencil style, I thought it is some sort of children thing and I would not like it. But the minimalistic animation works very well for this film, which shows the everyday life of a Japanese family. They are not very smart, good looking or have anything special. They are forgetful, self centered and lazy. But they have each other and they are happy. That's a beautiful message in a world dominated by heroes, celebrity and egotism.One might not like one thing, that the story is merely descriptive. There is no "end" to it, just a funny enumeration of family moments. I enjoyed it, though. The speech at the beginning, from the woman advising the newlyweds what life is and how they should spend it together is both funny, mostly true and descriptive of the rest of the film. The part with "life is hard when you are alone, but even two losers can go through life if they are together" cracked me up, as well as the part with "have children, it will help you appreciate your parents; they will come and take care of them for you from time to time".The bottom line is that this is a movie that families should watch together. It would relieve the pressure of never appearing to make mistakes, trying to be a perfect whatever and missing the joy of life. Now, it's too late for my family, but this film may be a way to screw up your children less.So, while this would not be for everyone, The Yamadas is one of those Studio Ghibli animes that makes you have warm feelings.

Takahata shows his deep understanding of the human psyche once again in this lovely little film about a semi-functional middle class Japanese family. Its more or less a Japanese version of the Simpsons but much more humane and touching compared to the grotesque comedy presented in that show.While not remotely on the same league as Grave of the Fireflies or Once Yesterday, this little film is still quite excellent in what it sets itself to do, that's it, to entertain and affect the viewer in a rather deep way. That's because most of the situations depicted in the show actually happened to my life (and, I guess, to the lives of others as well).Recommended specially to Ghibli fans but I wouldn't consider it required viewing.

What an amazing movie! I was not expecting it! The story is a very simple one, I would even say this movie has an"episodic" nature because it tells the daily-life chronicles of the Yamadas, some shorter, some longer. However its never dull or boring, all these episodes in the Yamadas' lives felt interesting, funny and refreshing one after another, switching the spotlight of the family members in each one.The art style is very unusual, sketchy and fits the story incredibly well. It's undoubtfully different than your standard anime visuals, but beautifully hand-drawn nonetheless. I really liked it.The characters are all superb! To the serious, old fashioned and wise grandma who still thinks she has a lot to give, to the hard-working, day-dreamer and misunderstood father who dreams about breaking the routine and to be acknowledged by his family (that in fact he really cares about). They all have a lot to give and to show through the movie and are constantly being put into ordinary daily-life tasks and obstacles while dealing with them in their very unique and hilarious way.Overall this movie is nothing more and nothing less than a very funny slice of life, with different and refreshing visuals, superb characters and filled with very interesting and thoughtful scenes (Being the scenes with the Father the best and most enjoyable ones for me ^^). The worst thing about entertainment is getting into it expecting a lot and being disappointed. On the other hand, the best thing about it, is getting into it expecting nothing... and ending utterly amused! For me "My Neighbors the Yamadas" was the best example of that, it was just that great.If you like light-hearted comedies or a good slice of life and are opened to unusual art, then by all means, watch this lesser-known Ghibli by the genius director Takahata!