Review of Home (2017) by Ty W — 29 May 2015

In a world with the likes of 'Frozen', 'Wreck-It Ralph', 'The Croods', 'Big Hero 6' and 'The Lego Movie', just to name, as of this review, a few modern, mainstream, examples; you can't just half-ass animated films with the excuse of, 'it's just a kids movie', and get away with it like you probably once could, anymore. And, honestly, people need to give children a lot more credit than they sometimes get. 'Home' isn't necessarily a bad movie by any means but it doesn't do anything better than other films of its type.

It's a problem when you don't like your lead characters within the first minute of the movie. They explain they're on the run, but they seem pretty casual and okay about invading another planet and just putting the humans somewhere else. I didn't like the way Oh talked either, while having a funny explanation for his name, the way he spoke started to get annoying quite fast, but being voiced by Jim Parsons, I guess that's par for the course. It didn't make much sense either, at first they all seem to speak okay besides Oh and then later on they all start to mess up some things and it was never very consistent. It seemed out of place for it to just be Oh, for the most part, talking like that, but of course he is the main character so he has to have something. How they even speak any form English in the first place is weird, sure it could be attributed to, 'main character syndrome', but even so. He was supposed to be called J. Lo but then changed to Oh for 'unknown reasons', really? I also like how all the Boov are supposed to all be the same, according to Smek, but clearly not as there are more intelligent ones. The moustache that Smek has looks very odd, almost like stitches and in stills of the movie, looks off putting, but Steve Martin does a reliably good job and disguises his voice well, even if it is rather random for him to be in this, and even if when he was introduced he sounded like he was called 'smack' and the joke with his podium went on too long. The Boov are very obviously trying to be the next biggest thing but besides having unique designs that change colour when certain things happen, as well as having their cute moments like when Oh looks at the drinks, this movie certainly isn't going to be doing them any favours.

It isn't like the human characters are much better either, while a nice change, it's mostly because of the cast; while there is admittedly a rather small cast for a change, with only the main 4 being listed on RT as of now, the people they chose seem kind of random. Some could say that applies to any film, but some of these choice just don't make sense, what was the casting director thinking? Mollie Gamo usually does a good job! But I'm sure she has her reasons, but, still... Rihanna is wildly out of place in this role and makes her character's age seem even stranger than it already was, and guess what? Tip comes from the exact same place as Rihanna! What a coincidence! Actually, no, because that is the exact reason why she was chosen, but seriously, couldn't they have gotten anyone else? You'd expect she was a child from looking at her, as well as that being the norm for these films, but then you see her driving a car like it is no problem and just the way she talks in general is weird; Rihanna didn't even try to do anything different. The age is revealed at some point and it finally all fit in, she's certainly cute and a good basis for a character but she needed a different voice. She has a picture of a Boov on her wall when we are first introduced to her, which is weird, and the book that the movie is based on does show up at the end so maybe that was why. Jennifer Lopez was fine and that's just because she wasn't in it much at all, strangely, so I don't have much to say and it seems weird for her to do that role anyway, as both I and the person I watched this with agreed. As well with the fact that the movie gave the impression that Tip's mother had been away for some time, given the dialogue and the set up. The way it's explained why she wasn't relocated makes sense but seeing as how the mother was taken during the day, the way the movie sets it all up is off.

Still, the way the two leads met is interesting enough, even if I did question why Oh spoke to a human; I know he was on the run, but still. And of course they go on their little adventure with the obvious fish out of water jokes coupled with some odd gag humour and cutaway jokes, with some silly humour like Oh proclaiming that it is useless to yell and does it anyway and it's all well and fine, and admittedly, there were parts I laughed at, like when all the Boov are hiding behind a chair, even if the humour disappeared soon after, but it's just so bland. The movie is virtually bereft of conflict right until the final few minutes wherein the movie outstays its welcome and it wasn't exactly like the movie was that long to begin with, the whole story wraps up at around an hour and you could just move the final scene and the whole movie would be an 1hr and 5 minutes. It's pretty obvious why the bad guys are doing what they are doing because of what Smek takes for some reason when he is running out of the peace treaty. Which, two things, why was there a peace treaty in the first place because there wasn't any conflict yet because the 'thing' was still in its place and why was that important thing just in the middle of the floor on a pole? With no safety around it whatsoever. Without spoiling too much, it became apparent after that the real villains of this movie are the Boov, as they cause all the problems in this movie.

Oh talks about how the Boov only mean liberate and interact with the humans and be friends, but I don't see how shoving them all on one spot, and never actually showing them interact with humans is 'liberating and interacting' with them. All we see is one area that says, 'ask a Boov' and it's empty, of course, but rightly so because the Boov in that spot would probably be dead and rightly so. I noticed that scene also featured the 'Inside Out' family, oddly. I don't even understand how the movie can relate to anyone, there a generic message in here with the Boov understanding what they did was wrong but how is that supposed to be a good message? I'm being facetious of course but given how backwards the movie is, I still don't know why it even bothered; maybe the book handled it better, as I'm it probably did, but here? No.

The soundtrack for is movie is absolutely atrocious, it starts off pleasant enough with some nice night club style music but then the vocal tracks kick in. It isn't uncommon for a singer to have a song on the soundtrack when they take part in the movie, as the person I was watching this with and I joked about, but the amount showcased here is a bit ridiculous, to the point where it isn't even new songs anymore, it's some of Rihanna's older work. At one point Tip plays a song in the car, Rihanna of course, and the whole set up of that is weird, from the looks of it, the character is playing one of her own songs that she made? There's an actual dubstep song in this that says 'drop the bass' and it just felt like I was watching an ugly modern take of a movie made by what company execs think is cool. Not to mention the terrible phrases like, 'drop it like it's hot', but it's a Boov saying it in a weird way so of course it's funny and cute! I keep looking in the credits for Rihanna's name under sound but she didn't show up. The only other redeeming thing about the soundtrack is that one of the songs reminded me of Jeopardy. Lopez has a song, but that's the thing, 'a' song- one. That might be the one I just mentioned because it was supposed to sound like 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind', as that film does have a great theme.

The movie also has the jokes in there for adults but they're either silly like 'Busta Lime' of all things, that doesn't even make sense and is even repeated a few times, to something small like a Boov holding a drink with a screwdriver in it. As a result of all these types of jokes, this movie is going to be dated horribly. There was some smaller jokes in there like the way The Eiffel Tower was falling was a clear reference to Titanic but some other things just seem like a rip off, with the whole 'best day ever' saying being taken from 'SpongeBob', I know you can't claim a phrase to be ripped off, but given the nature of the main character and the fact this was an animated movie, it speaks for itself. And the joke with the car seat reminding everyone of 'Monsters Inc.' and there was one part where the car looked sad after it crashed, but it wasn't like it was a character or anything, I'm just amazed the new fuel lasted so long. And I'm also surprised that the gravity device was just left so easily unguarded, or that the Boov car just easily works for a human. I found it in poor taste that the Boov are known for running away a lot and their base was in France, I don't know if that was just a coincidence or a joke, but still, it wasn't like there was a dire reason why it had to be France. When the cat was first introduced I wondered what it was but that was only because of the food on its face, it looked like a pig, which funnily enough is its name, it then goes into an obvious 3D sequence and it uses the same colours from 'Big Hero 6'. I don't really understand the functionality on their little devices that sends a message everywhere in the galaxy, surely it'd only send to those that have a device, as Oh says, there are only two buttons and they are close. It even has Boov on it, so surely it'd only go to Boov? And Kyle was working anyway so it isn't like he can go, he'll probably be working for a while, like he says. I also found it odd how Oh say something about hoping that a humans head can bend and then Tip gets attached by the alien equipment anyway, and I really did just didn't like that part.

At the end of this movie I questioned why the Boov were still there because they ruined everything and could, and should, just leave, sure they probably couldn't go because the previous planets are destroyed, but seriously, go away, I don't care where. DreamWorks really wanted this to be something; they put a short film of this in two previous DreamWorks films. I remember looking at the poster of them on the car and thinking that this might be one of the biggest of the year but then I remembered about 'Inside Out', whose trailer had me in tears. But seriously, DreamWorks, what is going on? A mild slip in the road is something but this is a pretty big drop after a string of successes; sure, it happens, but THIS big of a drop? Some are saying this is DreamWorks' best in years! Really? It used the DreamWorks logo in a unique way, and that's something, right? The only surprising thing about it is that Oh's password wasn't predictable but in turn makes that plot point useless and anticlimactic, it wasn't wordpass or something. A review, by Bruce Bennett, said that just because it has a good voice cast, (I stress to find out what he means by good, seeing as how only two of the main four, Martin and Lopez, actually fit well and one of them is hardly even in it!), doesn't mean that a movie will be good, not to discredit the other two as I'm sure they're wonderful people, but this is just terms of the movie. I understand that you generally do expect something of quality when big names are attached, but you need good characters and a story for everything to work. Of which, 'Home' had potential and it certainly has its heart in the right place and it's hardly the worst I've seen but, instead, is hampered by sloppy execution. I said at the start that the movie wasn't necessarily bad, but after writing this, I don't know, I think it made me realise that I disliked it even more and has lowered its rating by a star.