My Movie Review/Rant on HOME (2015) · 1:13am Oct 9th, 2023
Greetings and salutations, my friends.
This is your top-of-the-line film, TV show, and episode reporter here with another review.
Today, for the 1st installment of this year's "Spook Spectacular", I'm gonna give you guys my take of Dreamworks' "HOME".
Here's the rundown of it:
The Boov are a cowardly and hive-minded alien race who've been fleeing from their archenemies, the Gorg, for a very long time. Led by the arrogant Captain Smek, the Boov commence a "friendly" invasion of the Earth and relocate the human population to Australia.
However, when a friendly and free-thinking but openly accident-prone Boov named Oh unwittingly sends a party invitation to the Gorg, he becomes a fugitive on-the-run who desires to find the perfect hiding place. Along the way, Oh meets a teenage human girl named Gratuity "Tip" Tucci. Tip, along with her Japanese Bobtail cat named Pig, was the only human who managed to avoid getting captured during the invasion, and she desperately wants to reunite with her mother: Lucy.
As with many of the movies I reviewed this year, "HOME" was a film that I initially planned on analyzing a long time ago. Around the time I was starting out as a reviewer, I planned on making my analysis of "HOME" right after reviewing "Lilo & Stitch", particularly as part of a film comparison like I did with "Antz" and "A Bug's Life". But, I ultimately put reviewing "HOME" to the side, mainly because there were other movies I was more interested in giving a critique of at the time. Since my list of things to analyze has lessened, though, I was finally able to fully turn my attention to "HOME" and became ready to get a review for it out of the way.
As for whether I saw "HOME" beforehand, that'd be a yes. The first time I saw the film was back when my family and I had a Netflix account, and despite how unimpressive it appeared to be from the trailers alone, I gave it a look anyway simply because it was a Dreamworks movie.
Of course, with how long it's been since I last saw this movie, I knew that I needed to give "HOME" a 2nd look in order to make the review. So, I saw the film again recently by using a family member's Netflix account, just to be certain over what I thought of it.
Now that I'm finally making my review of "HOME", I'd like to confess something to you guys:
In my opinion, "HOME" is quite honestly the worst movie Dreamworks ever created! Or one of their worst since I'll probably run into more Dreamworks movies that could also prove to be terrible, but still...the first time I saw "HOME", I mainly disliked it. The second time I saw it, though...made me realize that I downright hate this motion picture!
For instance, the animation was subpar at the most.
Now I won't lie that there were some visual elements that caught my eye in the best way, mainly the Gorg ship and the outer space sequences. But even then, I found that much of the overall visualization was surprisingly unimaginative and cheap-looking, especially for a movie made under a $135,000,000 budget. It seemed like despite the resources and money they had to work with, the animators never took any creative risks or pushed themselves into making a good impression. Heck, regardless of the Boov having abilities reminiscent of an octopus, the animators hardly did anything innovative with that aspect; a factor that was the complete opposite with Dave the Octopus in the "Penguins of Madagascar" movie, that's for sure. Also, the Earth settings and objects looked just about like the kind you'd see in a low-budget TV show for preschoolers, and the character animation had little sense of texture.
On top of this, the direction by Tim Johnson, and the screenplay by Tom J. Astle and Matt Ember, were aggressively second-rate.
While I am aware that this movie was based on the book by Adam Rex, "The True Meaning of Smekday", I'm afraid it's no excuse for the film's lack of originality. The entire concept reminded me too much of "Lilo & Stitch", in that it's about a human girl & alien becoming friends, as well as the alien being a fugitive and developing into a better individual. The only difference between the two films is that "HOME" has little charm or reason to get engaged, which made the experience uneventful compared to "Lilo & Stitch". Along with the storyline being predictable and uninspired, I'm completely unsure if the movie remotely honors Adam Rex's book or captured the spirit of it, and that's coming from a guy who hasn't read the source material but researched what it was about.
As if that isn't enough, the humor throughout this animated feature was far from hilarious. The filmmakers and animators did incorporate tons of visual gags, comedic one-liners, and situational moments, but the problem with all of them was that they were too long-running and flatly-executed; not to mention they ranged from being either dull, cringy, or juvenile. An example comes from the part where Oh meets Tip for the first time in a store and he gets locked in a fridge, because the gags that ensued as Oh tries to convince Tip to let him out were making me more disoriented than amused.
The heartfelt, emotional, and dramatic aspects weren't well-done either. A lot of times, it felt like those things were incredibly forced and happened for the mere sake of it, and they certainly didn't get me to feel for the characters or invoke an emotional response. Plus, the themes and morals of this movie were by-the-numbers at the most. The biggest reason for why I think so owes to the fact that they're basically the same kind "Lilo & Stitch" had, only much more mundane and terribly-done compared to the aforementioned Disney film.
One thing's for sure, you'd think that after co-directing "Antz", "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas", and "Over the Hedge", Tim Johnson would make something delightful out of his first solo effort. Instead, he and the screenwriters created a movie that literally didn't feel like a DreamWorks film, and it gives the impression that they were on this project simply for the money.
Finally, the voice acting, characters, and character development were a major disappointment.
When it comes to what I think of both the human and alien characters, the biggest things they all had in common were that they're forgettable and unengaging, although the reasons for why are each very different. The Boov were mind-bogglingly childish, exasperating, infuriating, and idiotic. The humans, meanwhile, were relatively bland. What really doesn't help the matter is that none of the performers were able to make their characters stand out in the best way, and they certainly didn't sound like they were having much fun either.
Among the character-examples I'd like to point out are Oh, Tip, and Kyle. Each of them did have some sense of development, but their apparent growths never compensated for how boring or irksome they already were. These factors in question were ones that the performances of Jim Parsons as Oh, Rihanna as Tip, and Matt Jones as Kyle only seemed to add onto more than improve over; Parsons' portrayal in particular was maddening to where I wanted to tear pieces of my hair out.
Of course, if I had to choose what character I believe was the worst out of everyone, it'd be the film's main villain: Captain Smek.
Seriously, all throughout this movie, I found myself wanting to turn Smek into sushi! Not only was he the most immature and brain-dead of all the Boov, but he literally had zero character development and depth. Also, his sense of humor was a cringe-fest more than anything else, because his jokes put me on the verge of groaning instead of laughing!
Similar to Shaw from Sony Picture Animation's "Open Season", I also noted that Smek caused several plot deficiencies and flaws that openly made the movie's story all-the-more vexing. The largest elephant in the room being this:
As confirmed by Oh's story about Smek, the Boov's conflict with the Gorg and their "friendly" invasion of Earth all started because, during a peace meeting between Smek and the Gorg leader, Smek was so big of a wimp that he ran away despite the Gorg not doing a thing. In the process, he accidentally takes the egg containing the entire next generation of the Gorg species, mistaking it for a rock that he later attaches to a staff and uses for hitting others on the head! Because of Smek's idiocy, the Gorg have been hunting the Boov down just to get the egg back, and the Boov were looking for a new planet just so they could have a place to hide.
And what happens to Smek in the long run after his mistake is discovered?
NOTHING!!!
Smek doesn't die or gets reformed by the time everything was coming to a close. The film's ending shows Smek being a disc jockey on the moon, meaning that he got no punishment or reprehension for all he did!
All in all, Smek is by far the worst Dreamworks villain I've ever seen. Even the undeniably-talented Steve Martin wasn't able to save the day, because not only was he creatively-restrained, but his performance only seemed to further enhance why I hated Smek so much. He deserved better than this!
In conclusion, "HOME" was nothing more than a painful embarrassment for Dreamworks. Everything about it was all-things mediocre and tedious, and the fact that it apparently had a successful run at the box office is something I can't help but feel deeply befuddled over.
So, I rate "HOME" a solid one out of five stars.
Want my advice?
If anyone wants to see a real animated movie that features a remarkable friendship between an alien and human girl, and depicts that alien going on a journey of self-improvement, check out Disney's "Lilo & Stitch"! That movie's way better than the dumpster fire I just reviewed today.
As for whether I'll be reviewing the TV show that came after this movie and aired on Netflix, that'd be a big N-O. "HOME" never needed to be expanded into a franchise anyway, and the fact that it even got a television program to begin with openly confirms my belief that "HOME" was made as a result of people wanting to make some quick cash.
Not everyone will share your opinion on this one, bud. I'll have to check it out and give my own unique self evaluation on it.
Personally, I find the movie entertaining if my brother hasn't overwatched it within a week, animation needed a bit of work in a couple points but so have seen worse (MLP MYM C1 E1 being a prime example. But I cut those guys some slack due to the new animation style for them.)
I agree with your opinion. Especially on how forgettable the characters are. I still don't remember who was who.
eh, this movie isn't that interesting to me, so ill pass.
This is the Worst DreamWorks movie I have ever seen. It's probably the most boring and obnoxious chore of a film. It's riddled with cliches and bland at best and insufferable characters at worst.
and it's so painfully slow with how everything being the most "happy meal" kids film I have seen.
Even Shark Tale was at least laughably bad. This movie had nothing good in its favor.
and the fact that I still remember seeing it in Theaters (being the 2nd one I saw too) makes me sad about myself. 0/10 for me.