I myself hold the belief that Japanese animation is often over-looked in this country, with the majority of people unaware of the wonderful styles of animations and of story telling available from Japan.
One of the better-known animation-houses that is known over here is Studio Ghibli. Renowned for their particularly style of animation, they've had a significant amount of success having exported several well-received movies into the west. Movies such as 'Spirited Away', 'Kiki's Delivery Service' and 'Whisper Of The Wind' have all had English scripts and soundtracks written and recorded for them and have struck a chord with both western fans already into the genre, as well as people who may otherwise have simply considered them as 'cartoons'.
One of the key features about Studio Ghibli's movies is that they are rarely aimed solely at children. Whilst it's easy to considered and dismiss them purely as 'cartoons', they often have great depth and appeal that goes beyond age and as such can be enjoyed by whole family's, children, or even just adults who enjoy "good drawings".

The movie is about the lives of the Yamada family, which consists of the mother and father Matsuko and Takashi, their young son and daughter, as well as Matsuko's live-in mother.
In some ways, the movie is also a move away from the typical Studio Ghibli style of story telling. Rather than being one long plot, the movie is more a series of short 'episodes', with each one having it's own title and voice-over introduction. The closest I can relate it to are the early Goofy cartoons by Walt Disney, where Goofy would learn to do something from a book and each chapter was announced. In that sense, 'My Neighbours The Yamadas' is similar in terms of its story-telling; however the overall story telling is quite unique to itself in my mind.

I was also a little surprised by the change in story-telling; but again, I found myself actually enjoying these little 'episodes' of the daily lives of the Yamadas and although there isn't what you would call a typical plot to the movie, the overall flow of the movie is well paced and executed. I also found it to be both funny and touching in places too. I suspect that some people may be put off because of the lack of a 'Beginning, Middle and End'; but as I've said, these sections are well paced and
Not only is the script well written, but the performances from the actors are superb too - actually among of the best I've heard for quite some time in many ways. The English version has the voice talents of Jim Belushi, David Ogden Stiers and Molly Shannon, (and I'm sure the grand-mother is played by the ever talented Tress McNeille) I thought the interactions between characters and delivery of lines was first-rate.