There are several DreamWorks movies which are truly underrated. Whether it’s for their absurd amount of undeserved hate they get or just not getting the attention they deserve, these underrated films are worthy of more praise. Home is one of those movies; people either choose to forget about it or hate on it as if it were absolutely terrible. That is something I will never understand. Home is such an entertaining, sweet, and solid animated film. One of the best DreamWorks films ever made? Not by a long shot, but it is definitely a DreamWorks film to enjoy watching.
Home starts with an alien species known as the Boov moving to planet Earth to hide away from their enemy, the Gorg. The Boov proceed to invade planet Earth by relocating all the humans, and having all the Boov live in all the places the humans aren’t relocated. Upon the first day of their arrival, however, one Boov named Oh tries to invite his friend Kyle to his party, but he accidentally sends his invitation to everyone else in the universe including the Gorg causing the Boov to panic.
Oh is now a fugitive on the run from all the Boov who are trying to arrest him. Oh hides inside a convenience store where he ends up bumping into a pet cat name Pig and Tucci (Tip, for short), a young girl who is looking for her mother since she was relocated. Oh helps Tip fix her car after she crashed it and Tip let’s Oh tag along with her on her search to find her mom.
Oh and Tip head to where all the humans were relocated (including Tip’s mom). When Oh and Tip get there however, the Gorg ends up finding the Boov hiding in planet Earth and starts invading Earth to attack the Boov for the his own personal reasons. So it’s up to Oh to find out how to stop Gorg from attacking the Boov on planet Earth and help Tip find her mother who she was trying so hard to find.
Both Oh and Tip have a fantastic relationship together and work so well off of one another. Every scene with them has some of the best character-building moments of the movie. Through them, we get to know more about how the Boov see humans and how the humans see Boov. Both of them are also very easy to be invested in because Oh and Tip are just so likable, but have obstacles to overcome and I just love how they helped each other out and had each other’s back.
When it comes to the voice acting, everyone does a good job. Jim Parsons, especially, made Oh his own character and gave him so much personality. Rihanna was also surprisingly good. At times, her voice can be distracting, but she gave an excellent performance as Tip. As for Steve Martin, Jennifer Lopez, and especially Matt L. Jones, they were all great in this and all of the cast fit their characters so well.
The Boov are awesome. With their unique and cute design, how they change color depending on how they are feeling, how they mistaken things humans use on a daily basis as something completely different, I love how much the Boov stand out as aliens. Another thing that really stands out with Home is its colorful animation and its creative spin with its alien invasion. Home is also full of so many funny moments and the majority of them land. Oh especially is so hilarious and charming.
I think the thing I liked the most about Home, and what especially made the film win me over, was its beautifully-executed third act. The first two acts were enjoyable, but the third act felt like a completely different and better film than it already was. It has some of the best character moments, its the most engaging part of the movie, its full of so much emotion and heart, the twist at the end is so well-done, and how the story all wraps up is beyond satisfying. The third act alone makes this movie. It was so good that when I first saw Home in theaters, the audience was crying and getting so emotional.
As much as I thoroughly enjoy Home, though, the film isn’t perfect. Captain Smek is an unlikable, cliché, and one-dimensional antagonist and, although Steve Martin gave a great performance, the writing just wasn’t there. There are parts of the film where certain characters make decisions that do feel kind of forced. There are some illogical things that happen while the Boov invade Earth. Easily the biggest problem of the film are the Rihanna songs. They feel so out of place in a film that co-stars Rihanna and, every time they play one of her songs, it can be pretty distracting.
Aside from those problems I have with the movie, Home is a solid buddy road-trip family film that takes a unique spin on the sci-fi world invasion genre, with the inclusion of the Boov and how they act, feel, and are designed as aliens. The relationship between Oh and Tip is very charming, the story is very well-executed, it’s full of funny moments, has a lot of heart, and is just an overall quality animated family flick. Many people may disagree with me, but I’ll just simply wave my hands in the air because I just do not care!
Edited by: Kajsa Rain Forden
