My Neighbors the Yamadas

Produced by Studio Ghibli, the Japanese animation studio founded by Hayao Miyazaki, this goofy and sweet 1999 anime is as different from Miyazaki’s lush, dense, and epic storytelling as could be. Based on a popular newspaper comic strip, this sly and clever comedy about an endearingly dysfunctional middle-class family is drawn in a sparse style. The film plays like a series of blackout gags woven together with imaginative metaphors (a struggle for control of the TV remote spoofs martial arts movies), brought to visual life and punctuated with lovely haiku (recited by the late David Ogden Stiers in the English language version, which also features James Belushi and Molly Shannon). Yet director Isao Takahata’s bobbing rhythm and deftly composed character journeys (as well as a delightful score) give it the feel of a lighthearted symphony of human behavior in all its eccentricities. They squabble, goof off, avoid housework, and bait one another, yet also display a kind of family camaraderie that isn’t often seen in contemporary movies. A lesser-known Ghibli film that never achieved the success or reputation of the studio’s great fantasies, this is a lovely and funny comedy that (references to food aside) translates beautifully to suburban America. Presented in a dual-language Blu-ray/DVD Combo set, rated PG, extras include behind-the-scenes featurettes, the complete film in storyboard form, and a booklet. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)