"Home", the latest offering by Dreamworks, is a sadly underrated movie - even when I watched it with my friends, nobody had heard about it before, and it was almost silent in terms of marketing noise. Seeing the success of "How to Train Your Dragon", you'd think you'd have heard more about "Home".
But I think going in with zero expectations is the formula for enjoying "Home". :) I went in, expecting very little, and came out entertained and pleasantly surprised. It's a fun and silly flick with lots of random humour and snarky references -- but underneath all the jokes, there's a core of deep, substantial sentiments and heart.
Here's what I loved best about the film:
1) How the film touches the subjects of migration & cultural understanding
One of the core themes of the story about migration and finding a new home.
It's not just the Boov that invade Earth to make their home, but the protagonist, Tip (voiced by Rihanna) is part of a migrant family from Barbados who moves to an American city. This is basically Rihanna's own life story -- she also migrated from Barbados when she was young, and the scene where Tip shares candidly about how she found it hard to fit in at school must have been taken out of the pages of Rihanna's own diary.
With migration comes the themes of cultural differences and cultural understanding, which is a subject I hold deeply and dearly to my heart. :) The invading alien race, the Boov, assume that they're culturally superior to humans and are doing us a favour by conquering our planet (wow, doesn't this sound familiar?), even though their judgements are proven wrong every time Tip outsmarts them.
But Oh (voiced by Jim Parsons) soon learns, through his friendship with Tip, that they both have much to learn from each other, and you can become a better person by learning from people who are different from you.
2) Diversity!
This is kind of a touchy subject, but I'm glad "Home" adds to the animated flicks out there where the protagonist isn't white and male. :P
Tip is a resourceful, clever, strong and sassy heroine that kids can relate to and root for, and it kind of matters that she isn't your typical blonde and blue-eyed leading lady.
Plus, a lot of the background characters represented many different cultures, and it was quite refreshing to see people who aren't normally represented in the media finally onscreen (in roles that weren't necessarily stereotypical).
3) The badass soundtrack~
After doing some background reading, I found out that Rihanna herself had a hand in arranging the "Home" soundtrack, being executive producer for the music featured in the film.
Each piece of music was a contemporary track that could stand on its own, yet it blended seamlessly into the narrative of the film. It's so hard to pick a favourite song!
Jennifer Lopez's "Feel The Light" is balladic and inspirational and touches on the more sentimental themes of the film; while Rihanna's own "Towards the Sun" is driven and spirited:
4) Relationships we haven't explored
What I liked best about Disney-Pixar's "Brave" was the mother-daughter relationship between Merida and Queen Eleanor, which formed the core of the film. "Home" is also very much so.
I think familial relationships need to form more central roles in today's films, instead of just a by-the-way thing. Tip's main motivation throughout the whole film was to be reunited with her mother. Not many films explore familial relationships as the core of the story (even though there are many that explore it as a side-story to the main narrative).
Last thoughts ...
"Home" is pleasantly surprising, if you approach it without preconceptions and expectations. It addresses many deep, relevant themes in a lighthearted way, and has some pretty cute, tongue-in-cheek writing to boot.
Jim Parson really impresses in his first stint in voice-acting (even though his character was an echo of his Big Bang Theory character, Sheldon). Though I think Rihanna could have used more instruction for her voice-acting, she still did a pleasing job as Tip.
If anything, just enjoy the killer soundtrack~ ;)
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