My Neighbours The Yamadas

This spotless 1080p AVC MPEG-4 encoding from Optimum Releasing looks and sounds terrific, with options to watch the film in the original Japanese with subtitles or with dubbing from an American cast including Jim Belushi and Molly Shannon. It is double-play, so includes both the Blu-ray and DVD version.

The most impressive of the extras is an Japanese NTV documentary programme that follows the making of the film. It's enthusiasm is catching and it has plenty of quirky appeal as the filmmakers explore the almost Odd Couple-style relationship that exists between writer/director Isao Takahata and his long-time colleague at Studio Ghibli Hayao Miyazaki.

What emerges is just what a hard task master Takahata is, with him frequently making his voice-over actors repeat lines so that each word has just the write intonation. Early on, he is also seen driving the computer animators almost to distraction by his insistence on having an element of chaos in the line drawings - which he says are inspired by German animator Frédéric Back's 1981 film Craic.

It's the way in which chaos and precision combine that is fascinating as the project - which initially threatens to run long overdue - suddenly starts to come together at a rapid rate.

The second featurette on the disc - Behind The Microphone - focuses on the work of the American voice actors. It runs at just six minutes (and not the 68 that is being claimed in some places) and, as such, is pretty perfunctory. That said, it's enjoyable enough and it's interesting to see how much the American child actors and the producers differ in their attitudes from the Japanese ones seen in the other documentary.

There are several Japanese TV spots and trailers for the film included, which have a charm all of their own, not least because the trailers freely admit that the film is running behind schedule, only for a later one to declare: "We should be able to finish it in time."

Completing the package are 344 storyboard panels (just a fraction of the 2,225 panels that would go on to be used per scene) and a trailer reel of other Ghibli films - worth a look if only to see how the Japanese trailers differ so much from the 'trailer guy' presentation of Disney.