Home

Home – On the run from a ghastly alien race, the Boov land on Earth for a successful ‘friendly’ invasion; not realising that the humans don’t take kindly to being ‘resettled’. When Boov, Oh, makes one mistake too many, he is forced to hide from his fellow aliens and comes across a young human girl called Tip who wasn’t taken away with the others and is desperately trying to find her mother. Despite their mutual distrust, Oh and Tip decide to work together in order to help each other but with Oh’s selfishness threatening to overcome his good nature, will either of them get what they want out of their friendship?

Home (2015) – Director: Tim Johnson

“Home (2015 film) poster” by Source. Licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Home_(2015_film)_poster.jpg#/media/File:Home_(2015_film)_poster.jpg

Rating: U

Running Length: 94 mins

Starring: Jim Parsons, Rihanna, Steve Martin

Genre: Animated, Comedy, Science Fiction

REVIEW: ‘HOME’

Based on the children’s book by Adam Rex called ‘The True Meaning of Smekday’, ‘Home’ follows the hapless ‘Oh’ whose well-meaning but clumsy attempts at making friends land him in hot water, forcing him to flee from his own people. His friendship with human girl ‘Tip’ starts out strained but the movie progresses this well to the point where they care deeply for each other.

Although there aren’t too many ‘laugh out loud’ moments, ‘Home’ is a very charming movie and Oh in particular is incredibly likeable, even though his selfish streak often comes to the fore. The animation is bright and colourful which will be appealing to kids of all ages and, although parts of the plot may go over the heads of younger viewers, the fun, light-hearted nature of the movie is bound to make it a firm family favourite.

CONTENT: IS ‘HOME’ SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN?

The Boov’s enemy is a violent race called ‘The Gorg’ who have destroyed their planet and continue to pursue them across the galaxy. The Boov are terrified of the Gorg who are gigantic, terrifying monsters which have an aggressive, reptilian appearance. Their eyes glow a bright yellow and they have spikes on their armour which have skulls impaled on them. One scene shows a member of The Gorg close up and, when it gets angry, it roars loudly and the spikes on its head flare out; a Boov who is in the same room runs away from it in fear.

Tip struggles to cope after losing her mother in the Boov resettlement and doesn’t know where to begin in finding her. She watches videos of their time together and is upset to leave precious mementoes behind. There is some emotional distress in these scenes but Tip’s determination shines through and she never gives up, even when the situation seems hopeless.

Oh is a very friendly alien, he wants to make friends with his fellow Boov and invites them to a party. They avoid him and don’t go and, when he speaks to them, they make flimsy excuses for not being there. The continuous rejection and indifference that Oh receives upsets him, making him lonely and sad.

The humans are ‘resettled’ by being sucked up into large tubes and deposited into communities. This happens without warning to them and against their will so they are surprised and somewhat scared of this. One scene shows two characters being separated with one shown to be in distress about suddenly losing their loved one. Although their fear is minimal, some kids may find this quite scary, especially at the thought of being unexpectedly taken away from their family.

There are a few silly moments in the movie which may lead kids to imitate something that they may not realise is dangerous. One of these is Oh cleaning his tongue with a toilet brush and another is someone putting a hairdryer into their mouth, believing it to be an inhaler and switching it on.

A character is seemingly killed and someone who cares for them is upset about their death. This is quite a sad moment in the movie but does not become too distressing.

CAN I SEE A CLIP?

VERDICT: IS ‘HOME’ FOR KIDS? 

‘Home’ is fun and colourful. Although the plot is sometimes a little serious, the comedy outweighs the heaviness and makes for a thoroughly enjoyable tale of friendship and loyalty. We feel that this movie is generally appropriate for all members of the family but would recommend caution for under 5s due to the themes of a child being left alone and some scary moments with The Gorg.

• Violence: 1/5 (a planet is shown being destroyed by an alien race and its inhabitants fleeing in terror)
• Emotional Distress: 2/5
• Fear Factor: 2/5
• Sexual Content: 0/5       
• Bad Language: 0/5
• Dialogue: 1/5    
• Other notes: Deals with themes of friendship, thinking of others, selfishness, individuality, mob thinking, not giving up on something that matters, going against authority when necessary and the consequences of only thinking about yourself.

Words by Laura Record

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