HOME DVD (2015)

SYNOPSIS: From the creators of How to Train Your Dragon comes the hilarious and heartwarming, hit comedy of the year, featuring the extraordinary voice talents of Jim Parsons, Steve Martin, Rihanna, and Jennifer Lopez. When Oh, a lovable misfit from another planet, lands on Earth and meets a teenage girl named Tip, the two unlikely friends embark on the greatest journey of all time...the journey HOME.

MOVIE REVIEW:

Sheldon Cooper has come alive on the big screen. No not that socially awkward nerd in The Big Bang Theory but Golden Globe best leading actor Jim Parsons. Even as a socially awkward alien Oh, he still reminds audience of Sheldon Cooper. But never mind that.

In this latest CG animation from DreamWorks, Parsons voiced Oh, a color-turning Boov who befriends a human girl, Tip (Rihanna) after he accidentally made a deadly mistake of attracting the attention of his species’ most dreaded enemy, the planet destroying Gorg.

Led by the idiotic Captain Smek (Steve Martin), the Boovs are a bunch of cowardly selfish alien race. They inhibit Earth and relocate the people to Australia thus separating Tip from her mom (voiced by Jennifer Lopez). To find her mom, Tip must join forces with Oh in her futuristic hovering car across the globe or faced capture by Captain Smek.

Home at its core is a movie about bravery and friendship. However, unlike the recent more sophisticated Disney’s titles such as Wreck-It-Ralph and Big Hero Six, DreamWorks aims a little lower. Much lower in fact. Notably absence are the subtext and intricate plotting, it’s a simplistic colourful animation filled with plenty of slapstick comedy to entice the little ones in the end. Perhaps the failure of Rise of the Guardians has made them wary that they prefer to make things elementary.

What could be easily avoided during the scripting stage, there isn’t much in-depth character development between Tip and Oh. Just the usual bickering at the start before they expectedly turned into loving buddies. If there’s one thing director Tim Johnson got it right, it’s the cute factor. Oh often speaks in broken and sometimes baffling English which can be amusing and Parsons of course got it all nailed down. Veteran comedian Steve Martin is mostly forgettable as Smek despite his almost unrecognizable voice acting. So is the fate of Jennifer Lopez though she contributed to the soundtrack with “Feel the Light” after Rihanna’s “Towards the Sun”. Both theme songs predictably appeared numerous times during the music montages.

Other than adorable and cute, Home hardly qualifies as DreamWorks’ stronger titles. In fact, Disney’s Lilo and Stitch, which actually possesses a similar theme, fares better. Home is just moderately passable. 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Best Party Ever! and Oh’s Party Place contain a series of songs, music clips and party planning stuff. For the little ones in the household. There’s also a photo Gallery and Trailers.

AUDIO/VISUAL:

As per any DreamWorks animation title, Home is a dazzlingly piece of visual delight. Detailing is top notch with plenty of rich colors to impress. Directional effects, dialogue and pop songs are nicely balanced and delivered in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround. 

MOVIE RATING:

DVD RATING :

Review by Linus Tee