What makes it different from others?

Don't listen to the negative reviews

The first must-see film of the year.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

This is, by default, the worst Studio Ghibli movie I have ever seen. I doubt it will stay that way, given that I'm finally digging through the entire Ghibli canon. I've heard bad things about Tales from Earthsea, though I will reserve final judgement for after I've seen it. But yes, this is the first Ghibli movie I've seen that I'm not giving a completely positive review to.What it's about? A Japanese family and their wacky but mundane adventures. That's it. There's a stressed-out father, a quiet yet nagging mother, an overworked, nervous teenage boy, a cute little girl, and a wise yet snarky grandmother. Given this is Ghibli, you might expect these characters to be more than their stereotypes. But they're not, not really. Miyazaki is a wizard with characters. Takahata? Not so much. Even the one unquestionably great movie he made, Grave of the Fireflies, is not great because of its characters.While it's fun hanging out with these characters, you never believe that they have anything truly interesting to say. They're the equivalent of the friends you invite to a party but would never think of coming to when you need emotional support. In real life, these people are fine. But they do not make for compelling film-viewing. Great characters make you feel like you know them in a deep and profound way. I could watch the characters in this film for the rest of my life and never feel that way toward them. And that is a big fault considering what kind of film this is.There is not even a plot. The film is just a series of thinly connected vignettes. While this fits the film's comic-strip-inspired art style, it is a lot like that art style in that it is an interesting choice and one that I respect, but it is not necessarily a good choice. Takahata's intention was to give us an inside into the family life of these characters, but as these characters are not interesting, it does not really work. The entire film feels like a collection of filler that was taken out of a better, more interesting movie.Some of the vignettes would be fairly funny on their own right as short films, but tons of them connected into a full-length movie makes it feel jumbled and boring. There are some threads that were clearly intended to be developed, but never paid off. There some characters that were explored too little, some characters that were explored too much, and some characters that were explored in the wrong ways. The whole film is disjointed. I don't hate it, and there is a lot of good stuff in it, but it's too bland and flaccid for me to like.My biggest complaint is how it never builds to anything resembling a complex. Even in a slice-of-life movie like this, there should be some kind of build-up, some indication that the film is going somewhere, even if it's not somewhere traditionally interesting. Boyhood was especially good in this regard. This film just goes along on its merry way, then just wraps up. We talk about films having good pacing or bad pacing, but this film doesn't have pacing. This isn't horrible, but it robs the story of what emotional heft it would have had.Formatted differently and under different hands, this film could have been great. Instead, it's stuck at 'merely good'.

This is a very different show then what Studio Ghibli has done before, talking more about a regular family and not having a continuing plot. In my mind, this could have been a couple of 15 minute shorts more then a actual movie and it probably would of done a bit better since as I watched, I became very confused. They time skip a lot making it sometimes hard to figure out where we are in the story but then there are things that really don't need a time too.The characters really don't have anything that actually makes them stand out. They are just a generalization of a mother, a father, and family. There really isn't much that goes in the sense of there own personality and that did really bother me. I wanted some substance in them, not grasping at straws to feel closer to the characters. To me, that really felt boring and it became like me trying to force myself to watch the whole thing. Normally I could actually grasp at someone in the story and relate to them like the older sibling but this one just seemed off.The art style is very different then Ghibli's work as well, going for pastel colors and artwork that doesn't really fill up the whole screen most of the time. In fact, most of the border areas feel like the artwork blends off into white. It feels much like a comic strip art piece like in the paper rather then a full film. It stays mostly in the real world instead of going into any crazy ideas yet in the beginning and end has a sort of surreal look about being a family as they talk about a poem that deals with life. That was the most interesting part to me actually and it was pretty cool that they started out that strong and ended in the same manner although it made me feeling like I wanted more of that then the other real life stuff.The English voices are really well done, adding to the whole feeling of family but I wouldn't expect less from Disney when they get their hands on a cute little show like this. Nonoko is a very believable 5 year old and sounds so cute. The show itself takes things rather literal and I believe that is because we are in the mind of this little girl and how she sees her life. The English dub really does add to this idea that we are seeing everything from the 5 year olds aspects. Plus the fact that Nanoko does not show up all that often. There are times that it deals with her but then there are many times that it is only the parents, son, and Grandmother.The show might have been alright but it really isn't the best Ghibli film in my opinion. It was slow and very slice of life-ish that it was hard to watch.

My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999) follows the simple yet comical lives and adventures of the family of five; the characters are quite adorable and some of the vignettes are just so funny. This beautiful pastel colored film full of family gag is never shy to depict the antics of the characters and the daily crisis of family lives. The condition of the family may look difficult but it is not completely dysfunctional as they lived happily together. The first thing that comes to my mind is that this film has an impressive artwork. Its visual style is not just different from most of the Studio Ghibli productions but most of the animated features produced around the world which makes it really unique. It's really amazing to watch how short and simple comic strips can turn into a feature film by a series of vignettes. However, this film lacks a vital storyline that could connect all of the vignettes. As a whole, it may feel lengthy if it has moved to the ones that doesn't make you laugh or keeps you interested. Nonetheless, it is a recommended watch if you loved comedies, family- themed or slice of life films. Although most of the scenes are usually amusing, they also come with important underlying messages for you to discover.PS. What would happen if Nonoko meets Shinnosuke, say, kindergarten transfer? ;)

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.