My Neighbors the Yamadas. 1999. Directed by Isao Takahata.

(9/19/99)

I started out liking this, but I got tired of it after a while. It's a series of vignettes about family life done in a seemingly crude animation style. It is a lighthearted film, but it became tiresome for me, but that could be because I was extremely tired.

It includes Haikus by famous poets. It seems a little pretentious although I can see that it is an attempt to relate these mundane vignettes to more universal themes.

Actually, the aggravations of family life were beginning to depress me. The film preaches acceptance as the only sure way out of unhappiness and has the Yamadas singing "Que Sera Sera" in Japanese. You don't see that every day.