Critic Rating
(read reviews)User Rating
Director
Isao Takahata
Cast
Hayato Isohata,
Masako Araki,
Naomi Uno,
Toru Masuoka,
Yukiji Asaoka
Genre
Animation,
Family
The Yamadas are a typical middle class Japanese family in urban Tokyo, and this film chronicles a Fellini-esque variety of episodes in their lives. With tales that range from humorous to heartbreaking, we see this family cope with life's little conflicts, problems, and joys in their own way.
The New York Times by Mike Hale
Mr. Takahata’s broad, cartoony family comedy whose smeary watercolor washes and Peanuts-like line drawings don’t follow Ghibli’s house style. The family’s misadventures are standard stuff, but the art is continuously inventive.
Chicago Reader by J.R. Jones
The movie is impressive for its even mix of snarky humor and sincere sentiment, and even more impressive when one considers that director Isao Takahata made his name with the harrowing antiwar drama Grave of the Fireflies (1988).
The A.V. Club by Tasha Robinson
The domestic humor is often too culture-specific to play for a non-Japanese audience, but Yamadas does have its accessible moments, particularly in the sweet extended opening flight of fantasy.
Los Angeles Times
Rendered in Japanese ink wash, it is a surreal look at nuclear family dynamics. [21 Oct 2014, p.D5]
Los Angeles Times by Luis Reyes
Rendered in Japanese ink wash, it is a surreal look at nuclear family dynamics. [21 Oct 2014, p.D5]
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