{"id":72783,"date":"2015-03-16T01:00:23","date_gmt":"2015-03-16T01:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/?p=72783"},"modified":"2015-03-16T17:37:22","modified_gmt":"2015-03-16T17:37:22","slug":"home-film-review-dreamworks-next-animated-hit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/reviews\/home-film-review-dreamworks-next-animated-hit\/","title":{"rendered":"Home film review: Is this DreamWorks’ next hit?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Home presents a new twist on the alien-invasion story, starring The Big Bang Theory\u2019s Jim Parsons and singer Rihanna \u2013\u00a0both making their animated feature debuts.<\/p>\n

When a well-meaning race of creatures called the Boov discover Earth, they think their troubles are over. The pint-sized invaders take over the planet, relocate its seemingly primitive population, and revel in their new home.<\/p>\n

Their latest home, that is. The Boov have been pursued across the galaxy by their enemy, the Gorg. This menacing foe has a grudge against the tiny tentacled trespassers, as well as a habit of blowing up their latest safe haven.<\/p>\n

Parsons plays the upbeat Oh. Named for the less-than-enthusiastic sound his fellow Boov make whenever he\u2019s around, Oh is cheerfully lonely. Desperate to make friends in a society that doesn\u2019t value such connections, he tries his best, but no one wants to be his friend.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, scrappy teenager Gratuity \u2018Tip\u2019 Tucci (Rihanna) manages to avoid capture, surviving by her wits and with a fierce determination to find her mother Lucy (Jennifer Lopez).<\/p>\n

\"Home<\/a>Because of his latest snafu, Oh inadvertently reveals his people\u2019s location to the Gorg, and becomes Boovian Enemy Number One. While on the run he crosses paths with the little girl, upgrades her car to a flying machine powered by slushies, and agrees to help find her mother. As they travel the world together, Oh learns from his human companion what it is to belong to a family, and the guarded Tip discovers that the Boov aren\u2019t all that bad.<\/p>\n

Adapted from Adam Rex\u2019s story The True Meaning Of Smekday, Home dials down the book\u2019s social commentary while upping the \u2018true meaning of friendship\u2019 schtick. It\u2019s a sweet enough story that plunders the child-meets-adorable-alien playbook, but lacks the personality that made the likes of Despicable Me and ParaNorman entertaining and heartfelt. You can\u2019t help but think that Gru\u2019s minions had an awful lot to do with the Boov.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say that the world director Tim Johnson has created is without charm. The Boov are designed to be otherworldly yet endearing, with their stubby tentacle-feet and goofy grins. They change colour with their emotions, and that constant shifting adds a novel energy to them.<\/p>\n

As for the cast, it\u2019s remarkable that no one thought to use Jim Parson\u2019s considerable vocal talents before now. As many Sheldon Cooper fans would have already guessed, he makes a rather convincing alien.<\/p>\n

The actor affects a more eager version of his own voice, as well as Oh\u2019s strange Boovian syntax. \u201cI has found our car,\u201d exclaims the purple critter. Lines like \u201cCan I come into the out now?\u201d are lifted from the source material, but when divorced from the novel\u2019s darker subtext, they do feel a little childish.<\/p>\n

Steve Martin\u2019s turn as the beautifully smug Captain Smek is a scene-stealer for obvious reasons, while Rihanna\u2019s raspy voice stretches the limits of her believability as a teen, but she brings warmth and humour to her character.<\/p>\n

The bond between the Tip and Oh is the heart of the film, even if it seems to measure their friendship in selfies. Home doesn\u2019t sparkle enough to make the transition from kids film to modern classic.<\/p>\n

To be fair, not every animated film can evoke Toy Story 3 furnace scene levels of poignancy \u2013 there\u2019s only so much the heart can take. That said, Home is possibly the most cheerful alien-invasion-of-Earth film you\u2019re likely to see.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Find out what we thought of home, starring Rihanna and Jim Parsons<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":72793,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"quote","meta":{"MSN_Categories":"Uncategorized","MSN_Publish_Option":false,"MSN_Is_Local_News":false,"MSN_Is_AIAC_Included":"Empty","MSN_Location":"[]","MSN_Add_Feature_Img_On_Top_Of_Post":false,"MSN_Has_Custom_Author":false,"MSN_Custom_Author":"","MSN_Has_Custom_Canonical_Url":false,"MSN_Custom_Canonical_Url":""},"categories":[2615,8],"tags":[3586],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Home-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72783"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}