Rich and detailed animation: Home review and trailer
WILL the Boov be the new Minions? That must be the hope of Dreamworks’ amiable animation, Home, which features a race of blobby miniature aliens, the Boov, reminiscent of the pint-sized henchmen in the Despicable Me films.
(U, 93mins)
Director: Tim Johnson
Voices: Jim Parsons, Rihanna, Steve Martin, Jennifer Lopez
Like the scene-stealing Minions, the Boov are troublemakers but they aren’t intentionally malign; just self-interested and convinced of their own superiority.
Humans are “simple and backwards” insists leader Smoke (Steve Martin) shortly before leading a takeover of planet Earth. It’s the latest inter-galactic bolt hole for the cowardly Boov who are always fleeing their historic enemy, the Gorg.
Home Official Trailer #1 (2015) - Jim Parsons, Rihanna Animated Movie HD
Our hero is an ebullient misfit Boov, Oh (Jim Parsons) who unlike his anti-social peers craves friendship. The sweet but rather over-familiar story sees him pair up with a spirited but lonely girl, Tip (voiced by pop star Rihanna).
She’s left behind during a human relocation exercise which sees everyone, including her mother, consigned to far-flung encampments around the globe. For his part, Oh is on the run from his Boov brethren having committed a major inter-galactic boob that threatens to bring the Gorg to earth.
The blathering blob and Tip journey across the globe but can their blossoming friendship survive competing agendas and the not inconsiderable fact that one is a colour-changing critter belonging to an oddball race that has no concept of friendship? Boov we learn “don’t have families.”
There’s a jaunty spirit and good nature to the story and Parsons and pop star Rihanna bring zip and heart to their characters, the latter proving especially adept playing a character who, like her, is Bajan.
“I was this nerd from Barbados,” she explains of her inability to fit in at school. The singer’s music features prominently too.
The animation is rich and detailed and there are some vibrant locations - Paris, China, Australia - but the relationship between Oh and Tip evolves rather predictably and the lessons learned about family and friendship are unsurprising.
