Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Review of HOME: Corny Confection

April 1, 2015



When I first saw the trailer of this new DreamWorks animated film last year, I felt I might not like it. The title was indistinct, the alien character looked corny and the girl character had zero charm. But I had made wrong first impressions about previous DreamWorks projects before, like "Shrek", "How to Train Your Dragon", and "The Croods" which all turned out to be very enjoyable and heartwarming films despite the "unattractive" animation styles. Even "Spirit", "Megamind" and "Turbo" turned out much better than what I expected them to be from the trailers. So, not wanting to judge this book based on its cover, we also gave "Home" a chance.

The Boov were a cute alien race who prided themselves with being cowardly and indifferent. Running away from their sworn enemy the Gorg, the Boov, under the leadership of their dictator Captain Smek, occupy Earth. One particularly odd Boov was known as "Oh" because of the exasperated groans of other Boov who could not stand his sunny friendly ways. Oh just wanted to send an e-invitation to his "warming of house" party but he inadvertently sends it to the whole universe, including the Gorg. Because of this costly mistake, Oh becomes a fugitive.

Meanwhile, a young girl named Tip apparently escaped the vacuuming machine which extracted all humans from their homes, including her mother Lucy. She and her fat cat Pig were constantly on the run from the Boov which had overrun New York City. When Tip meets Oh, she pleads with (or coerces) him to help her find her mom. From there, the two go on an adventure that brings them around the world from Paris to Australia, developing an unusual friendship and saving the world.

Initially, the very bright color palette and cute marshmallow-like alien design make this very attractive. The visual comedy did not always come off successfully, like the globes of toilet bowls and garbage cans, or the landmarks with Smek's face. Unfortunately, the story did not really develop into something memorably funny or interesting. The friendship that bonded Oh and Tip together seemed shallow and forced, not very well-developed in the storytelling. The final resolution of the problem with the Gorg was an overused plot point. There was only one scene that I could call truly touching.

Jim Parsons voiced Oh like he was playing his signature Sheldon character on his hit TV show "Big Bang Theory". It was occasionally cute, occasionally annoying. Many of his jokes in broken English actually felt flat. Aside from the dancing scene (which we already saw in the trailer), I cannot recall any other really big humorous moment from him. The voicing of Tip was okay, but it was made more remarkable when the end credits came up and you see that it was pop star Rihanna who did it. Steve Martin unfortunately did not get to do anything distinctive as Captain Smek's voice. Jennifer Lopez's very short stint as mom Lucy could have been done by any other voice actress.

For me, the film itself was just mildly entertaining at best. Not the worst film by DreamWorks, but not one of their best.  6/10.






19 comments:

  1. I've only seen DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon ( and I cried! ) and Shrek, which I didn't like so much and so, I haven't watched that much cartoon-movies lately. The alien character reminds me of The Teletubbies.

    Thank you for your honest review about DreamWorks' upcoming movie - a 6/10 rating is not-so-good for them. I kind of expected more from them.

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  2. Hahamy tuition kid was telling me how she wanted to catch this but I was like, nah, don't ask me, don't tell me, not interested!

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  3. Fantastic review as always - my daughter has seen the trailer and seems interested in the film. But with others to choose from such as Cinderella, we may just wait to watch Home! Sim x

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  4. My girl and I enjoyed watching this show ... but it does get a bit draggy in the middle. I almost switched off until the part when Gorg found them anyway. Oh, and I only realised till later that it was Jim who did Oh's voice. No wonder I found it irritatingly endearing :D

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  5. My younger sister has seen it. She said is it interesting.. I wish I have the time for movies.

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  6. I don't enjoy animation so much. I think the only animations I really enjoyed were classics like Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and Tangled. I liked Despicable Me and Monsters Inc too.

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  7. Dream Works movies have started to become one of my favorite animations. I've seen the trailer and can't wait to watch it myself (always a kid at heart).

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  8. I have yet to see this and my kids actually do want to see it as well. I'm not really a big fan of animations but I'll probably take them. Thanks for the informative review.

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  9. One of my friends also recommended me to watch this fun movie Fred though I am not enjoying the recent animated movies by disney and dreamworks.

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  10. I think I saw the trailer of this one and one of the characters did sound like typical Sheldon Cooper. I think I'll try to watch this one.

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  11. Never seen the trailer yet but have heard about this from my colleague

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  12. I first saw their movie trailer at American Idol when Jennifer Lopez sing their soundtrack song "FEEL THE LIGHT". And my youngest daughter hear the song and love the movie trailer, I think we will watch this.

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  13. my baby and I will surely watch this movie in cinema.

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  14. Basta Dreamworks, it is a date with my apo. But, seems I will not enjoy this film, unlike the "How To Train Your Dragon" which is the last one we've seen. Your review kasi tells it all. Baka, ma-bored lang ako.

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  15. I love DreamWorks and their range of fun and thought provoking films. I'll still check out this one.

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  16. Ohh.. my friend watched this and she can't stop telling me how cute and interesting movie this is. Too bad, I don't really into animation.

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  17. I watched this movie in theaters with my daughter yesterday. I loved it. I would describe it as an explosion of colors and emotions, too. It is about friendship and the importance to stay by your loved ones when everyone else is leaving. To have the courage to fight for what's worth it in life.

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  18. found a new movie to watch this weekend. i had not heard about this before. thanks for sharing.

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  19. Thanks for sharing! My little cousin wants to see it so its nice to know what to expect!

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