Worlds collide.
Oh (voiced by The Big Bang Theory's Jim Parsons) is a Boov, one of an alien species looking for a new planet to call "home". The Boov land on Earth, relocate all the human population to a section of earth, and the Boov population takes over the humans' homes. Excited for his new home, Oh tries to do a housewarming party, but no one shows up. In fact, no one wants to even be his friend. Determined to have friends, Oh sends an invite to the entire galaxy, including the Boov's enemies, the Gorg. When found out, Oh is all of a sudden a fugitive on the run, until he runs into a teenage girl named Gratuity (nicknamed Tip) (pop singer Rihanna), who escaped the Boov's traps. Tip reluctantly enlists Oh's help to help her find her mom, Lucy (Jennifer Lopez), and stop the invite before it reaches the Borg.
The animation is colorful, whimsical and occasionally eye-popping. One of the best scenes of the movie was seeing Tip and Oh go through a field of yellow umbrellas with a pastel blue sky in the background. Unlike the visually over-rated How To Train Your Dragon 2, DreamWorks Animation gives Home appropriate dashes of realism, technical artistry, cartoony antics, and gentle subtlety, into a visual wonderland of sorts. It's a lot of fun to watch.
The voice actors do a good job too. Parsons brings his distinct geekiness to the role of Oh, but also portrays him with an appealing sense of childlike innocence. While he may come across a little annoying a few times, he definitely is a good choice for the character. She hasn't been acting much, but Rihanna surprisingly nails her role as Tip. She brings spunk and an appreciable amount of heart to the character. A good fit for a cartoon (he's only been in one other animated film), Steve Martin is fun and hilarious as Captain Smek. He can be over-the-top somewhat (his screentime is cut short to not become overbearing), but he delivers the most laughs of the whole film. The only major voice actor that seems underused is Jennifer Lopez. While she does very good work in the few scenes she's in (her character is only shown in flashback at first), she's not given much to do.
There are songs, that, while aren't musical numbers, are played in the background. These mostly work, though I ponder Tip humming along to Rihanna's number being somewhat of a self-mockery. The best of the songs is Lopez's "Feel the Light", which appropriately accompanies a late-movie emotional moment. Sometimes the songs blend too much into the score, but they are all interesting and add uniqueness to the score. As for the regular score itself by Lorne Balfe and Stargate, it's not fantastic, but a decent companion to the film's action scenes.
The biggest positive the movie carries is some imaginative and clever moments.. The aliens' interactions with human things, from watering footballs like plants to using bubble wrap as a "stress blanket", is so fun and hilarious. Also, the use of vacuums and bubbles to transport humans and the Boov give the beginning of the film a little bit of Dr. Seuss-style whimsy. A few light messages here on family, friendship, courage, and not judging a book by its cover.
On the downside, the film's script is is sometimes weak. Some of the film's story elements can sometimes feel a little derivative of Lilo and Stitch and E.T. Also, the story lacked any sense of sophistication or depth. We don't hear anything about what happened to Tip's father, and any financial or emotional struggles Tip and her mom go through are not even hinted at. Even if this movie was intended to not have much of that due to it being focused on younger kids, it would have been nice to have some subtle depth or nuance.
Home has been batted around by DreamWorks the past few years. Originally titled Happy Smekday!, it's based on the children's book The True Meaning of Smekday. It had to hold its ground in the midst of several changes the studio has had over the last few years.
While the industry believes the struggling animation studio's product hasn't been up to par, I both agree and disagree with this statement. Mostly this is because, the competition's just gotten better, in my opinion. There have been some bad publicity decisions (Dragon 2's Gobber controversy, opening Turbo in the midst of a crowded summer for animation) that have contributed to the studio's apparent downfall.
I should also note that not every DWA movie has been great though either. While the sequels have been great (for the most part), the original(ish) efforts haven't been so much. The Croods was a beautifully-animated movie that, while hilarious and had a very good ending, just didn't deliver a coherent or compelling story. Turbo was slick, well-animated and entertaining, but was way too predictable and somewhat generic. Mr. Peabody and Sherman had its moments, but hit a quality low for the studio last Spring thanks to some really dry jokes and a somewhat annoying panache.
Compared to these recent original efforts, from a visual, originality and humor standpoint, Home is a nice improvement. The movie may have some derivative moments, but the writers wisely counteract this with some inventive, hilarious gags based on the alien's clueless behavior when it comes to Earth and its objects. And the road to the ending isn't quite as predictable as some may think it is.
The overall feel I got from this movie is just, bouncy fun. The characters are cartoony and even somewhat memorable (especially Oh and Pig the cat). The production design is witty and whimsical. And, just when many animated movies try too hard for laughs and don't succeed, the film's geeky humor is absolutely laugh-out-loud funny.
Now Home still isn't quite DreamWorks Animation at its best. The relatively simplistic story lacks the emotional depth and gravitas that made Lilo and Stitch and E.T. (among other similarities) better films. And, the pop music may have been somewhat overused here, as a regular music score may have sufficed better in some areas. I also wonder if regular musical numbers would have helped compensate this issue, like The Lorax did (you have Rihanna and Jennifer Lopez in the voice cast, why not?).
In the end, Home is a charming, ultra-cute, and hilarious distraction for families on a rainy day. Its not anywhere near "animated classic" status, but it's a solid effort regardless.
Score: 7.2/10
Content Problems Families Should Be Aware Of:
Language: Nothing offensive. Smek says "curse you!". Tip calls Oh a "lying frogface".
Adult Content: None really. A (male) boov cross-dresses thanks to a trap Tip created. He is seen later still wearing the same outfit.
Violence: Some animated peril, slapstick violence, and mild destruction. Boov fall from various heights, and are stomped on a few times. A car crashes. Someone is nearly killed. The Earth is nearly destroyed. An upside-down eiffel tower destroys a handful of homes and nearly hurts Tip. Smek hits fellow Boov with a rock called a "shusher", to get them to "shush". Red spheres are used to disintegrate materials. Humans are abducted and transported via multiple vacuums. Walls are broken.
Drugs/Alcohol: Wine may have been seen briefly.
Other: In one scene, Tip and Oh take a "pee break". We don't see him do the actions, but we hear that Oh chewed into a urinal soap pod, as well as briefly drinking urine ("Do not eat the blue mints! Do not drink the lemonade!").
