Home Movie Review

Director: Tim Johnson

Actors: Jim Parsons, Rihanna, Steve Martin

Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy

Aww, Dreamwork, how we love you so … even, if you are the stepchild of animation. You always do good work. However, not great work like your brother and sister, Pixar and Disney. This brings me to your latest feature film, Home. And, I have to say, it is pretty damn good, if I do say so myself. It definitely didn’t push the envelope by no means. But, it gave me something, I’ve been missing for in a long time from an animation which is … we’ll discuss that later.

Synopsis: Home is about a race of intelligent aliens called the Boovs, who comes and take over Earth! In the process of transferring humans into a concentration camp (not as bad as it sounds), Tip (one of the main characters) gets separated from her mother and goes on a quest to find her. On that quest, she bumps into a Boov named, Oh. Oh is on the run from his own species, thus, creating this crazy, wacky adventure together.

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Let’s talk about the design of the characters. The human heads are too big for my taste, but I can see how it captures the attention of children, so I’ll let that slide. The aliens’ design (Boovs) is simple, but effective. The Boovs’ ability to change color via their emotions are visually appealing to the eye and makes them super kid-friendly. There’s one more alien I’m not going to spoil it for you but when it suppose to look cute it looks so cute but when it suppose to be intimidated it does it well.

What works most for me in this movie was Oh. I absolutely fell in love with the character. He can do no wrong in my eyes, even though the movie is based off him doing wrong. But, that’s besides the point. I thought it was clever and funny that he got his name from everybody saying, “Oh”, when they initially see him because he’s that much of a screw up. I also thought, it was clever and funny how the aliens spoke in a third person, literal aspect. Some examples are when, Oh was stuck in a refrigerator and would say, ” Can I come into the out now?”; or, if the music was playing, he would say, “I’m waving the hands in the air, as if I just don’t care,”  which was very amusing. If aliens came to earth and tried to learn our language, I feel that’s exactly how they would talk. Plus, half the kids in the audience probably has speech similar to Oh anyway, so I know they didn’t mind.  Tip was okay, for the most part. I wanted more, but I get the feeling she was just a catalyst to help highlight Oh.

Tip: This doesn’t work.

Oh: Don’t worry, I can fix it.

Tip: I need to find someone.

Oh: It’s okay, Tip. I can find them.

Etc, etc., I just wish they would have dove more into her character. But, once again,  it’s a movie for kids. Another character I enjoyed was Oh’s best friend/not really best friend/it’s complicated. You have to watch the movie to understand what I mean. The Boov leader was a little annoying at times, but it was definitely bearable. (Baby Spoiler) They lose a full point for recycling a joke from Mega Mind. In Home, they had  a Shush stick, basically a stick that knocks people out. In Mega Mind, they had a Forget me stick that basically…you guessed it, is a stick that knock people out. You have a team of well-paid writers. They should not be copying and pasting jokes. Most people probably didn’t pick that up, but I’m a movie fan. I remember lines like it’s no one’s business (Spoiler Finished). The plot was predictable. I knew what was going to happen, when it was going happen. Not to beat a dead horse, but if a movie is for kids, there doesn’t have to be much twists and turns.

      

 

Don’t be fooled this alien can get down!!!

Kids would be happy with anything as long as they have a good song to go with the storyline. This brings me to the music. It was suitable. The music was not extraordinary, but it definitely had catchy moments. The accompanying visuals helped bring out my inner kid. It had my foot moving and my head bopping to one side to another. Once again, the music was not excellent, but it would satisfy a kid’s sweet tooth for catchy hooks and bright color schemes to highlight a song or two. For example, take the car scene. All the kids in the theater stood up and started dancing, started waving their hands like they don’t care (yes, pun intended). The music does not do anything special in particular, but it does provide clean fun for children of all ages.
What’s important next to music are the voice overs. The voice over was way better than I thought it was gonna be. Besides having the great Steve Martin, I thought the casting was going to be pretty bad. But, that shows what I know. Jim Parsons nailed it as the lovable Oh. Steve Martin was Steve Martin. He played the Boov’s leader. I would be interested in knowing how much of his lines were ad-lib.  The voice over that surprised me the most was of Ms Rihanna. I expected her performance to be way b-e-l-o-w average. However, I am pleased to admit I was pleasantly impressed. She should do more work behind the camera than physically on the camera, if you know what I mean (Battleship ::wink, wink::). I love you, Rihanna. No hard feelings. So, onto the final voice over who I did not know who was even in the movie. Drumroll please … you guessed it, Ms. Jennifer Lopez. She played the role of Tip’s mother … I know right?! Even though, she only had about four and half lines, they were the best lines she has had up-to-date in her career.

Okay, so let’s wrap this up. What worked were the music, bright colors, casting, and predictable plot. For a kid, this is ideal. But, for an adult it can probably drive you nuts, but it will still have you engaged. What did not work were the recycled jokes. DreamWorks Studios, if you don’t want to be the stepbrother of Pixar and Disney, STEP-IT-UP. So referring back to what I have been missing from an animation was … an actual kid’s movie. No adult jokes, No adult themes. Just a straightforward animated children’s film. Just like there are movies that are made for adults. There should be movies just for children. Adults don’t have to enjoy every single one, just because they pay for them. But, it’s only right. Our parents did it for us, right? It’s the circle of life (Lion King joke, get it?).

My rating for DreamWorks’ Home is:

for kids: 8

for adults: 6.8

overall: 7.4

(Something to watch once with the kids)