Home – Overview/ Review (with Spoilers)

Overview

Home is a cute movie, with tear jerker moments but unfortunately, the music used throughout the film seems very misplaced.

Director: Tim Johnson
Writer: Tom J. Astle & Matt Ember (screenplay) | Adam Rex (Source Material “The True Meaning of Smekday”)

Review (with Spoilers) – Below

Characters & Story

The Boov have for many years been running away from the Gorg, and Captain Smek (Steve Martin) have finally found them the perfect place to hide: Earth. So, being that the captain has a superiority complex, he treats the humans like we do our animals and quarantine them – in Australia. Issue is, while the majority of the humans were transported, Gratuity, aka Tip (Rihanna), was not.

Though Tip isn’t the issue, it is more so Oh (Jim Parsons). A mistake prone Boov who is very lonely. Thus leading to him, upon getting settled into his assigned home, stolen from the humans, sending a party invite. One which reaches the dreaded Gorg and leads the Boov to freak out and want to wipe Oh off the face of the Earth. Luckily, though, Oh meets Tip and, in return for helping her find her mom, she finds herself giving Oh all he has always desired, but was never given due to it not being Boov customs. Leading to Oh finding a possible solution for the Boov’s long-standing problem.

Praise

Like many people of color, one of the first things which mesmerized me about this movie was the detail put in, especially when it comes to Tip’s hair. For while Disney had Tiana, her hair was straightened, relaxed, or what have you. With Tip, though, her hair is in full curly glory. But, representation, in terms of skin color and hair texture, aside, what makes Home wonderful is that it does have heart.

Though I must admit, at first it did seem rather corny. After all, with Pixar, Marvel’s Big Hero 6, and Miyazaki raising the bar for what is expected from animated films, all the cutesy moments made for kids did make me roll my eyes. However, once I put my preconceived notions aside, let myself laugh, care about the characters, and enjoy the fact that Tip didn’t have some heavy-handed backstory to force you to feel something for her, I found myself enjoying the movie. To the point, I found myself crying at times, laughing, as mentioned, and almost wishing I had a kid to watch this with as many of the parents in the audience did.

Criticism

The main, if only, thing I disliked about the movie was the soundtrack. For while the Jennifer Lopez song, “Feel The Light,” was placed during the perfect situation, I felt the majority of the songs, including those sung by Rihanna, were terrible. Mostly because they just seemed like the songs which weren’t worthy of her official albums, but placed onto this movie to remind you who the star was.

And this isn’t to say some of the songs were catchy but, to me, 98% of the time when we heard any song with vocals, the film should have probably used the instrumental version of the song. If for the sole reason that the song either didn’t fit the scene, due to the way Oh was dancing, or it just lowered the emotional impact. Making me overall feel that the songs used were more about the artist, especially Rihanna, than enhancing the experience of watching the film.

Overall: TV Viewing

A part of me wants to say this is Worth Seeing, but what holds me back is the music. For the film truly seems more focused on having you hear as many songs as possible, rather than get you into the movie, and get lost with what it can give you. Which is a shame since the film has a lot of good messages for kids dealing with family, emotions, and things of that nature, and I think it could make some adults laugh. But my God! The music gives you that feeling of when you hear a song on the radio 100 times within 3 hours and while you can’t stand the song, it gets stuck in your head.  

Things To Note

• It is never mentioned what exactly happened to Tip’s father, which gave me pause. Meaning, I thought it was quite interesting that she was raised in a single parent home, of which her father might have been left in Barbados, where Tip, and her mom, are from.
• Tip is a 7th-grade girl in the movie. Something I mention since, until she gives that indication of her age range, it might be hard to know whether Tip is a teenager, a child, maybe a short adult, or what?