Home
I know I’m not the only one who greets most Dreamworks animated films with a sense of dread that, once again, we’ll be treated to the same, tired pop culture references and star-studded voice casting philosophy that has seemed to become the studio’s go-to crutch since it took the box-office by storm with 2001’s “Shrek.” Yes, there have been some giddily entertaining films that have come out of that notion of what makes a successful animated film (“Over the Hedge” stands out, as does the “Puss in Boots” spin-off), but there have also been more than enough duds (“Shark Tale,” “Turbo” and sorry, those last two “Shrek” films) to make it feel genuinely surprising when either an artistic high (like the “How to Train Your Dragon” and “Kung Fu Panda” franchises) or smart storytelling success (like “The Croods” or last year’s underappreciated “Mr. Peabody and Sherman”) comes down the pipeline. Yes DWA, it’s important to formulate an identity for yourself, as Disney Animation and Pixar have, but it should come from the sort of stories you tell, not the people you get to voice your characters.
Thankfully, Tim Johnson’s “Home,” based on the book, The True Meaning Of Smekday, by Adam Rex, is more in line with the “Croods” and “Peabodys” in Dreamworks’s filmmography than the “Shrek” sequels or “Madagascar” movies. The fact that some of the studio’s best films have come from adapting other people’s work is probably a smart way for the studio to become more consistent with the films it releases in terms of quality. “Home” isn’t quite a home run like “How to Train Your Dragon” or “Kung Fu Panda,” but it’s at least a solid double in the vein of “Peabody and Sherman,” “Megamind,” and “Over the Hedge,” and that’s because while it does hit the pop culture reference trough at times, it doesn’t hit us over the head with it, and the characters in the film are genuine individuals, rather than just extensions of the people playing them, although I’ll be the first to admit that the character of Oh wouldn’t be the same were it not Jim Parsons voicing him.
I’m an unabashed fan of “The Big Bang Theory,” and have been ever since it started airing in 2007. A big part of the show’s success has come from the character of Sheldon Cooper, played by Parsons, a genius who is a hard core nerd and physicist, but also out of sync with what seems like everyone else in the human race. His brain developed, from an analytical standpoint, earlier than most (he was in college by 15), but from an emotional perspective, he doesn’t process feelings, or recognize feelings, the way other people do. It’s resulted in big laughs over the years, but that basic archetype for Sheldon has also begun to get chipped away over the years, resulting in a truly well-rounded character, while remaining fundamentally the same. Now, if you substituted Oh for Sheldon in this last paragraph, you would see the unmistakable similarities between the characters, although in thinking about it, Oh is actually the opposite from Sheldon in a few ways. Yes, Oh is out of sync with the rest of his people (an alien race, known best for running away, called the Boov), but it’s not because he’s too analytical, but because he’s too emotional, although like Sheldon, he doesn’t seem like he can pick up on social cues very well. (The reasoning for his name is an early start of the laughs.) When the film opens, Oh is excited that the Boov will be taking up residence on Earth in one of the most benign invasions the planet has ever had. Yes, it’s an inconvenience for humanity to be displaced into one area on the world (best not think about how 7 billion people could possibly fit in Australia on a good day), but the Boov don’t mean to harm humanity, just to carve a place out for themselves on this Earth. That sort of nuance is lost on Tip (voiced by Rihanna), though, as she got left behind when the Boov arrived along with her cat, Pig, and she’s been hiding from the Boov. Soon, though, Oh will be doing the same, after he inadvertently invites the Boov’s sworn enemy race, the Gorg, to his “warming of house party.” Then again, who all hasn’t gotten in trouble with that “Send to All” button at some point in their email?
One of the things that succeeds so much about “Home” is how out of step it is with what we consider a family adventure movie. Yes, the Gorg may seem like an artificial threat to ramp up the action, but don’t groan too much until you see the way it pays off, and wraps into the overall themes of lost family and loneliness that are front and center in the film as Tip and Oh meet, and find themselves trying to locate Tip’s mother (voiced by Jennifer Lopez). The concept of lost parentage isn’t a new one for a Dreamworks animated film, but the way it’s handled in this film, as Tip teaches Oh about the complexity of human emotions through her emotional journey, is wholly unique to this film, and really lands well thanks to the performances by Rihanna and Parsons (who is hamstrung by having to speak in an incorrect English as Oh, but thankfully, it doesn’t grate). Another big winner in the cast is Steve Martin as the Boov’s bumbling leader, Captain Smek, and it’s as big a performance from Martin as you would expect with the sort of broad comedy he’s asked to perform. It’s weird focusing on the story and characterizations in a review of an animated film, but the truth is, the animation in this film (or rather, the quality of it) is not particularly noteworthy, although the way the Boov move, and especially, when Oh comes in contact with Pig, is some of the most impressive character work Dreamworks has done in a while. With Pixar, it feels like they’re almost always pushing some boundary (or at least, they did for a long time) in animation, while Dreamworks has been static throughout most of their films. That’s not always a bad thing, though, especially when it’s at the service of a story that is as unique and moving as “Home’s” is. I don’t want to see endless sequels come out of the adventures of Oh and Tip (some films are best left one and done), but I hope the inspiration that makes “Home” a winner for Dreamworks carries over to similarly successful efforts in the future.
