Great actors, pop music, and an adorable little girl: What’s not to like? James Holcomb reviews Dreamworks new movie ‘Home.’
—
Relentless, that was the word that came to mind while watching the newest Dreamworks Animation effort, ‘Home.’
The film intersects two diverse characters: a go-getter of a little girl named Tip, sweetly voiced by pop singer Rihanna, who is in search of her mother who she was separated from during an alien invasion, and a self-destructive self-effacing alien Oh, voiced with as much “hey it’s the weird guy from ‘The Big Bang Theory’ gumption as Jim Parsons can muster. The most fun comes from Steve Martin as Smek, as the over-the-top leader of a nomadic race of pastel-hued outer-space blobs known as the Boov.
The Boov are on the run, for the most obvious reasons known to man, and while hiding out on Earth, Oh sets in motion a chain of events that not only allows for a, fugitive- on-the-run adventure with our two leads and madcap fun ensues, or at least it is supposed to.
As I said, ‘Home’ is a relentless film, the soundtrack is populated by Rihanna tunes in the background, that seem to all meld into a droning mind-numbing mess. The jokes are relentless, (I never thought I would want Steve Martin to shut up, and this is coming from a guy who laughs at his ‘Pink Panther’ movies) and less than funny. While the animation is beautiful it doesn’t really sparkle or pop, even the action sequences seem to be muted for easy consumption.
Now, not to seem like an old fogey I will tell you that for the 90 minute run time, my hyper five year-old was totally engrossed and entertained. He seemed to be on the wave length with the film and was a chilled kid throughout, so as a parent who just dropped some money, even on a Sunday afternoon, it was a success.
So as a film, I find ‘Home’ a poor man’s ‘Lilo and Stich.’ However, if your kids enjoy pop tunes and “waving their hands in the air like they just don’t care,” ‘Home’ is probably for you. I give ‘Home’ 1 ½ stars and hope my kid doesn’t see the DVD/Blu-ray ads.