Home
by Tom J. Astle, Matt Ember, Adam Rex
Home is a dark movie that is wrapped in a literally and figuratively bubbly, package, in which we learn that colonialism is BAD. I’m not sure how much kids got the memo, but I have high hopes that some day our world leaders will be about to do something totally awful and suddenly they’ll say, “No, wait, I’m pretty sure this is wrong. I think I learned it in a movie. You know, that one with the purple alien dude?” All the other world leaders around the table will know exactly which movie is being referenced even though no one will be able to remember the name of the movie, and they’ll decide to hug it out instead of doing something awful. In the meantime, kids learned that you shouldn’t eat or drink anything you find in a gas station bathroom, which is also an excellent moral.
The plot is exactly the same as Dances with Wolves, except that Dances With Wolves had amputations and war and sex and massacres and tragedy, whereas Home has a hover car powered by slushies. The Boov are an alien race trying to find a safe planet on which to live. They pick Earth, and declare that humans are sooo lucky that the Boov have arrived, because humans are savages and the Boov will help them. The Boov put all the humans in reservations. They are very colorful reservation, complete with amusement parks and an “Ask A Boov” booth, and you can see why the Boov think they’ve done a great job providing human happiness.
When the Boov collect the humans for the reservations, they miss one – Gratuity “Tip” Tucci, who is separated from her mom. Tip teams up with a Boov named “Oh” who is always making “unintentionally hilarious mistakes.” His most recent one was inviting all life in the universe to a housewarming party – including the Boovs mortal enemy, the Gorg, who can now find them on Earth thanks to the evite. This makes O a fugitive and he and Tip and Tip’s cat, Pig, go on a road trip in her mom’s car (which Oh turned into a hovercar, so it’s technically a air trip).
Tip is a twelve-year-old girl who recently moved from Barbados to New York City with her mother. Whoever did the character design, let me just say that I would like to buy them a drink, because Tip is not sexualized, she is not rail-thin, and she has brown skin and fabulous natural curly hair. As a bonus, most of the extras are people of color as well (Tip and her mom are the only humans with speaking parts).
The Boov are freaking adorable – all soft and snuggly, and they change color based on their emotions. They have based their tech around bubbles. They fly in bubbles, they carry things in bubbles, and they make stuff out of bubbles – lots of bubbles here. When I say that the plot is dark, it’s only dark between the lines. If you know any history at all, you’ll say, “Oh, I see what they’re getting at there,” while kids are just saying, “Ha, the cat is funny.” The Boov are the least menacing attacking alien race ever. No one is hurt and no one suffers beyond confusion and annoyance, with the exception of Tip and her mom, who end up fine. Oh, please, like you didn’t know they would end up fine. That’s a foregone conclusion not a spoiler.
There’s no romance in the movie whatsoever, and no bad language or serious violence. The Boov seem to be infinitely bounce-able and while they fall and blow up etc. they are always shown as being fine afterwards. There’s some potty humor but even I thought it was funny, and I hate potty humor. Oh’s explanation of Number Three is to die for: “We only do it once a year! And I wouldn’t call it a holiday – but you do have to take the day off from work.”
Look, I’m a woman of simple tastes. In the trailer, when Jim Parsons, as Oh, says, “Oh no! My hands are in the air like I just do not care!” I laugh my face off. I would totally watch this movie without children. It wasn’t deep or emotional like Big Hero 6 or How to Train Your Dragon 2, but it was hilarious and heartwarming. There’s nothing super ambitious about the movie. You’d think there would be given that it’s about colonialism, but really, it’s mostly these two people and a cat in a hover car, and there’s hugging and bubbles and involuntary dancing and rainbow colors with an emphasis on pink and purple, and the whole of the colonialism thing is “Colonialism is BAD so don’t do it, OK? Also be nice to each other, support your family, and don’t eat or drink anything you find in a gas station bathroom, EVER.”
I am actually not the target audience for this movie, which stars an 12-year-old girl. Luckily for me, I happen to have access to an almost but not quite 12-year-old girl who was willing to offer her perspective. Here you go:
What grade would you give this movie?
A+
Really, it was perfect?
Yes.
What did you like about it?
Boov are cute and funny also the cat is cute. I like the all the bubbles. The bottom line is – it’s funny.
Was there anything you didn’t like about it?
Not really.
Was there anything that surprised you?
Spoilers: the starfish knew where to find the Boov even when Oh stopped the message. The evil robot dude was actually a cute starfish.
Did the movie make you feel anything besides that it was funny?
It was touching near the end when SPOILER: Oh almost died, and when Tip found her mom.
Would you recommend it to other people?
Yes. I would recommend it to everyone. Even adults, it is funny and touching, especially to adults.
Home is in theatres now and you can find tickets (US) at Moviefone and Fandango.
I went and saw this with a 3 year old, four six year olds, an eight year old (it’s school holidays folks) and a forty-two year old. They are mostly not mine. As an aside, I have been teaching about indigenous rights movements this year, and saw this straight after a tutorial. So the timing was good for me, and I liked how it started conversations going with little people that usually wouldn’t happen til they are much older.
All of my companions aged under nine gave it an A+ and my friend liked it too. I now find my house populated with Boovs and a shusher. The shusher is simply the best thing ever. You want to talk not sleep? Time for the shusher. This use is especially good for my 3yo. You want to yell at your brother? Time for the shusher (the 6yo). Don’t want to share? You get the picture.
Courtesy of the shusher and Oh’s insistence on calling Tip’s mum ‘my mom’, it gets an A from me (I am well over twelve). We now have a movie ritual, where the kids race down to the very front of the cinema and do interpretive dance while the credits are rolling. This song is very important: and Home kicks goals there too!
I looooooved this movie! I went to it for my six-year-old’s sake, but I’ll be buying the DVD for myself just as much as for him. Fun, funny SF adventure with an awesome girl heroine – so rare and SO MUCH FUN!
my ten yr old daughter and I thought it was the most adorable alien invasion ever. and yes yes yes about about Tip. what a wonderful refreshing female lead. we need more age appropriate characters/movies for older girls/Tweens that don’t include boys or romance…and I loved the mother daughter relationship too. we don’t get a lot of that unless someone is turned into a bear and THAT did not go over well with my kidlet, in fact we do not talk about that movie or speak its name in our house.
but we loved Home and can’t wait for the DVD
How interesting! The only reviews I’d seen made it sound too intense/scary for the preschool set. My husband wanted to take my 4-yo and I vetoed (I claimed veto power after having to gently suggest, for the third time, that Guardians of the Galaxy might not be a good choice for her).
It’s not scary at all although there’s a lot of excitement. Very much aimed at the 4 year old set, whereas Guardians of the Galaxy is aimed at adults. If you child can handle movies at the theater at all (and some young children can’t, because it’s too stimulating) then they can handle this one.
Wow, this movie may have the most misleading advertising for a children’s movie that I’ve ever seen. All the commercials make it look like “goofy alien lands on Earth,” not “Earth colonized by goofy invaders.” (Incidentally, while reading this review I started to “hear” it in the voice of Mr. Mackey from SOUTH PARK: “Colonization is bad, mmmkay? Don’t colonlize occupied planets, mmmkay?”)
And kudos to Jim Parsons for taking on the role. While some actors might have just said “I’m on a successful show, I don’t need to do anything else,” he went and did something quite sillier than even a pretty silly comedy. (And a few TBBT fans I know didn’t recognize his voice in the commercials for HOME — including me!)
I haven’t seen the movie, but it is based on a book called The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex. I thought the book was pretty good (no idea how closely the movie follows the book, though).
The book that this movie is based on is fabulous. And the audio version is great. 😉
I 3rd the book recommendation for The True Meaning of Smekday. It’s this crazy, funny, oddball journey, and it has fantastic illustrations — Adam Rex is also an illustrator. It’s aimed at an older audience than the movie.) My whole family loves it.
The movie streamlines the plot and simplifies, but picks up quite a bit of the funny dialog and visuals. And they did a such a great job with Tip! We enjoyed it.
If you gave the movie an A+ in the review, why does it have B+ in the title?
@Diana:
Sorry for the confusion! The A+ is from Carrie’s daughter, whose opinion as a 12 year old we wanted to include.
Also:
I saw this over the weekend, and pretty much agree with Carrie’s review. My biggest complaint is that all the best jokes were in the trailer, and when there was a funny moment that had already been seen in the trailer – which has been running for a year or more- NO ONE in the theatre laughed. There was one moment where Oh complains about the too-close proximity of email buttons that made me laugh, but that was it. As Hubby said, “Needed more jokes.” I know Penguins of Madagascar didn’t do so well in the theatres, but I really loved the celebrity pun jokes that ran through the whole story.
But as Carrie mentioned, the incredible attention to the details of diversity in the humans of the film made me so happy. Every single person looked unique but in scenes with large crowds, the humans also looked like an appropriately massive but visibly diverse community of humans – it was so terrific.
Like the first commenter on this article, I also saw the movie shortly after a cultural proficiency training. Which made it pretty blatant in its messaging. This is not a criticism. I enjoyed it, and you don’t see a ton of messages about colonization in children’s media. I especially liked the “comprehensive pamphlet” about humans.
I want to know what the num Dr three is every ti.e I get to that part I keep wondering.
WHAT on Earth is number 3?!!!!!
It is a book called the meaning of smeckday.
Great movie that my whole family enjoyed. The animation was great and the simpler things that only a s adults picked up on were a great add in to such a movie.