Home (2015 film)

Home is a 2015 American 3D computer-animated science fiction comedy-adventure film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is loosely based on Adam Rex's 2007 children's book The True Meaning of Smekday and stars the voices of Jim Parsons, Rihanna, Steve Martin, Jennifer Lopez, and Matt Jones. Tim Johnson is the director of the film, Chris Jenkins and Suzanne Buirgy are its producers, and the screenplay is by Tom J. Astle and Matt Ember. The story takes place on planet Earth, where an alien race called the Boov invade the planet. However, a girl named Tip Tucci manages to avoid capture, and goes on the run with Oh, a fugitive Boov.

The film was released in theaters on March 27, 2015. Home was promoted with the release of a four-minute short film titled Almost Home, which was shown in theaters before DreamWorks Animation's Mr. Peabody & Sherman and Blue Sky Studios' Rio 2 in 2014. It premiered at the Boulder International Film Festival on March 7, 2015. Besides lending her voice to the film, Rihanna also created a concept album of the same name. The soundtrack includes guest vocals from Jennifer Lopez, among others, was supported by two singles, "Towards the Sun" and "Feel the Light". Home received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $386 million worldwide. A Netflix original series was released on July 29, 2016 that takes place after the events of the film and uses hand-drawn animation and none of the original cast (except Matt Jones) reprised their roles.

Plot
On the run from their enemy, the so-called planet-destroying Gorg, an alien race known as the Boov find Earth a suitable place to call "home". Led by Captain Smek (Steve Martin), they commence their "friendly" invasion of the planet, relocating the humans, whom the Boov deem as simple and backwards, to other parts of the planet while the Boov inhabit their homes in a quick and bloodless conquest. One of the Boov, named Oh (Jim Parsons), is a more excitable, freethinking member of the species, who decides to invite the Boov to his apartment for a housewarming party, despite the race's antipathy towards him. Not far from Oh is a fourteen year old girl named Tip Tucci (Rihanna), who drives away through her home city to find her mother Lucy (Jennifer Lopez) after being separated from her during the invasion, leaving her with only her calico cat Pig and fueling her hatred for the Boov.

Oh runs into the street to meet up with a Boov cop named Kyle (Matt Jones), who, like the rest of the Boov, doesn't want to befriend him. Oh invites him to the party but accidentally sends a mass invite to every Boov on Earth. However, the "send all" button he pressed actually sends the invite to absolutely every alien race in the entire universe including the Gorg. Everyone, aggravated with Oh for revealing their location to the enemy, starts chasing him down. Oh runs into a convenience store to hide just as Tip and Pig enter the same store to grab supplies. They come across each other, and after Tip's car fails to start, Oh transforms it into a fantastical, hovering craft named Slushious to continue transportation. Oh hitches a ride with Tip when he promises to help her find Lucy, but unfortunately, they must go to the Boov Command Center in Paris and locate her from there.

After reaching the Boov Command Center, which is in the now-floating Eiffel Tower, Oh manages to get into his account, and deletes the message with just a second to spare before it reaches the Gorg. He then plugs in Tip's brain to help her find Lucy. They eventually trace her location to Australia, where she is also looking for her daughter. The other Boov then find the two and try to "erase" Oh, while Tip grabs the gravity manipulation system and flips it over, causing the whole Tower to tilt upside down.

As Oh and Tip head off to Australia, they are ambushed by other Boov riding by them in fear, and realize that a Gorg ship is close behind them. Tip and Oh manage to knock it down, but in the process a chunk of it hits them and they lose their slushie fuel, causing the car to crash-land. They come across the fallen Gorg ship and find out that it is actually a drone. Oh recovers a special chip and uses it to get their car up and running.

Tip and Oh make it to Australia and see the Boov evacuating to their mothership. When they land the car, Tip immediately starts looking for her mother, but Oh insists on evacuating with the other Boov instead. Tip gets upset at him for trying to break their promise again, and she declares that he was never truly her friend. the Depressed Oh returns to the ship. The Gorg mothership comes close to the Boov ship, but Oh pulls out the Gorg chip and uses it to fly the ship further away from the Gorg. The Boov become astonished at Oh's bravery, but Smek becomes upset and reminds everyone that he is the captain. However, Oh stands up to Smek, telling him that he's a terrible captain and tells the Boov about what he learned from Tip about humans caring for other people while the Boov barely even care for each other. Saddened by this revelation at first, the Boovs then mutiny against Smek and Kyle grabs Smek's "Shusher" (a scepter with a rock on top of it, which Smek stole from the Gorg) and gives it to Oh, declaring him the new captain, much to Smek's dismay.

Tip rushes aimlessly around the city to find Lucy, but in vain. Just when all hope seems lost, Oh returns to her side and helps her track down Lucy. The mother and daughter finally reunite and thank Oh. Suddenly, the Gorg mothership descends upon the planet, and Oh realizes that they want the rock on the Shusher, since Smek had previously stolen it from them. Oh runs to the ship to try to attract its attention, locking Tip and Lucy in the car for safety. Tip breaks out of the car and shines a light in the Gorg Commander (Brian Stepanek)'s face to bring his attention to Oh as he holds the rock up. The Gorg Commander halts the ship as it crunches down on the ground, with Oh directly in its path. Tip rushes to rescue him, but Oh is seemingly crushed beneath the ship until it backs up and reveals him uninjured. The Gorg Commander emerges from his armor to show that he is actually a harmless starfish-like creature. Oh returns the rock to him, which turns out to be an egg for millions of developing Gorg larvae; the next generation of Gorg, revealing that the Gorg Commander/"Father" had been the last of his kind, alone and almost extinct. He thanks Oh and departs.

Two weeks later, the humans have returned to their original homes, and Oh finally gets to have his party at his apartment, with both humans and Boov in attendance. Tip plays her music and gets the rest of the Boov to experience dancing for the first time, while other Boov, including a reformed Smek, party on the moon, and thousands of ships from other planets, including the Gorg and his babies, head to Earth for Oh's party upon receiving his invite.

Voice cast

 * Jim Parsons as Oh, a Boov fugitive.
 * Rihanna as Tip Tucci, a teenage girl who befriends Oh.
 * Steve Martin as Captain Smek, the fearful, selfish leader of the Boov race.
 * Jennifer Lopez as Lucy Tucci, Tip's caring mother.
 * Matt Jones as Kyle, a Boov police officer.
 * Brian Stepanek as Gorg Commander, the frightful-but-caring leader and father of the Gorg race's last children.
 * Stepanek also voices some Boov.
 * April Lawrence as Boov Announcer.
 * Nigel W. Tierney as Child A.

The rest of the Boov were voiced by Stephen Kearin, Lisa Stewart and April Winchell.

Production
In 2008, DreamWorks Animation optioned the book's rights to adapt it into an animated feature film. On his blog, Adam Rex announced that DreamWorks renewed the option of the adaptation in 2011. On June 20, 2012, it was revealed that the title of the film would be Happy Smekday!, Jim Parsons and Rihanna would star in the lead roles, and the film would be released in the fourth quarter of 2014. In September 2012, 20th Century Fox and DreamWorks Animation announced a release date of November 26, 2014. In June 2013, the film was retitled from Happy Smekday! to Home.

On October 3, 2013, it was announced that Steve Martin and Jennifer Lopez had joined the cast. On May 20, 2014, the film's release date was pushed back to March 27, 2015, switching places with DreamWorks Animation's film Penguins of Madagascar. Jeffrey Katzenberg, DreamWorks Animation's CEO, reasoned that Penguins, coming from one of DWA's most successful franchises, would more easily stand out during Thanksgiving time, while Home would try to take advantage of the less competitive spring release window, and repeat successful spring launches of some of DWA's original films, including The Croods and How to Train Your Dragon.

Soundtrack
In addition to her voice role, Rihanna created a concept album for the film (also titled Home) which was released on March 24, 2015. It consists of 8 original songs. The soundtrack's lead single, Rihanna's "Towards the Sun", premiered on BBC Radio 1 on February 24, 2015, and was made available for digital download the same day, via the iTunes Store. The second single, "Feel the Light", recorded by Jennifer Lopez, was released on February 25, 2015 via the iTunes Store.

Release
A 4-minute short film called Almost Home was attached to theatrical showings of DreamWorks Animation's Mr. Peabody & Sherman in early 2014 and Blue Sky Studios' Rio 2 that same year. It was directed by Todd Wilderman, and features a score composed by Lorne Balfe. The short shows The Boov and their leader Captain Smek in a sequence of unsuccessful attempts at finding a hospitable planet, before they finally come across the Earth. The film itself premiered at the Boulder International Film Festival on March 7, 2015.

Home media
Home was released digitally on June 26, 2015, and was released on DVD, Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D on July 28, 2015. In the United Kingdom, Home went to number one on the Official Video Chart in its first week of sale.

Box office
Home grossed $177.4 million in North America and has grossed $208.6 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $386 million. Its production cost was $135 million, with a similar sum spent for prints and advertising (P&A). Deadline Hollywood calculated the net profit of the film to be $29.12 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues for the film.

Home opened in the U.S. and Canada simultaneously with the comedy Get Hard on March 27, 2015. Though the latter earned higher in its Thursday late-night run, estimates were showing that Home was heading to No. 1 in its opening weekend. It scored one of the biggest opening days for a DreamWorks Animation non-sequel ever with $15.6 million, behind Kung Fu Panda ($20 million) and Monsters vs. Aliens ($16.75 million). Home debuted at the top of the box office, with $52.1 million, which exceeded predictions of a $30 million to $35 million opening and was also DreamWorks Animation's best opening since the $60.3 million debut of Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted.

Outside North America, Home was released in 10 countries on March 20, 2015, a week ahead of its U.S. premiere. It earned $20.1 million, coming in third place at the international box office behind Cinderella and The Divergent Series: Insurgent. The following weekend, it expanded to 55 additional countries and grossed a total of $24 million from 11,250 screens in 64 countries. Its largest openings occurred in the UK, Ireland and Malta ($9.12 million), Russia ($5.17 million), Mexico ($3 million), Brazil ($2.3 million), Australia ($2.42 million), and Spain ($2.24 million).

Critical response
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 48%, based on 120 reviews, with an average rating of 5.3/10. The site's consensus reads, "Colorful, silly, and utterly benign, Home is a passable diversion, but there's no shortage of superior animated alternatives." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the film has a score of 55 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". In CinemaScore polls conducted during the opening weekend, cinema audiences gave Home an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.

Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter said, "There may be no place like home, but there are a lot of places like Home, an animated adventure about the unlikely friendship between a lonely girl and an alien misfit that can't help but feel familiar." James Rocchi of The Wrap gave the film a positive review, saying "As animated sci-fi for small fry, it's a success whose modest but well-executed ambitions are no small part of its charm." Stephen Whitty gave the film two out of five stars, saying "The Gummi-colored animation is imaginative, but director Tim Johnson's ho-hum 3D cartoon remains strictly 1D." Rafer Guzman of Newsday gave the film two out of four stars, saying "The film moves quickly and keeps the jokes coming, which only means that Home would rather keep young viewers occupied than give them something to think about." Ben Sachs of the Chicago Reader gave the film a negative review, saying "Aggressive and cynical approach to children's entertainment, pummeling viewers with mechanical-looking action sequences (which suggest video game demos), unfunny one-liners, and overly loud pop songs and sound effects." Claudia Puig of USA Today gave the film two out of five stars, saying "Key characters are admirably diverse, but the fast-paced tale is thoroughly predictable."

Soren Anderson of The Seattle Times gave the film two and a half stars out of four, saying "It works moderately well thanks largely to the voice talents of Jim Parsons and, to a lesser extent, Steve Martin. Two droll dudes who put a fair share of funny into this animated picture." Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times called the film "A charming concoction with positive messages for younger children about conquering fears, understanding outsiders and knowing yourself." Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times gave the film a negative review, saying "Tension is one of Home's biggest issues. There just isn't nearly enough of it. Story is another. Even a kids' movie needs more complexity and more invention." Linda Barnard of the Toronto Star gave the film two and a half stars out of four, saying "Aside from Parsons' initially amusingly mangled Yoda-like English, which gets a tad repetitive, Home doesn't stand out as fresh or particularly funny." Dana Rose Falcone of Entertainment Weekly gave the film an A-, saying "The combination of Home's layered message, fun score, and clever comedy make it a colorful choice for moviegoers of any age." Stephanie Zacharek of The Village Voice gave the film a mixed review, saying "If director Tim Johnson -- adapting Adam Rex's book The True Meaning of Smekday -- can't do much with the story's confused, if well-intentioned, agenda, at least he's got some charming, vivid characters to work with." Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film a C, saying "Anyone over 10 will see the plot twists a mile away. Kids will probably enjoy the goofy Boovs, the rainbows of colors and the music. Call me a traditionalist, but I still say the world was a better place before those darn Boovs invaded."

Peter Debruge of Variety gave the film a negative review, saying "From a creative standpoint, this is the studio's least exciting feature yet - hardly its worst, execution-wise, but entirely lacking in the risk-taking spirit that has spawned such successful franchises as Shrek, Kung Fu Panda and Dragon." Sara Stewart of the New York Post gave the film two out of five stars, saying "It's refreshing to see a nonwhite lead, and the husky-voiced pop singer is likable as a brave-hearted kid searching for her mother. But man, is there a lot of Rihanna in this movie: She also provides what seems like the entirety of the film's soundtrack, making it feel like a vanity project (is 'vanimation' a thing?)." Barbara VanDenburgh of The Arizona Republic gave the film two out of five stars, saying "For all its energy, razzle-dazzle and whiz-bang technology, it doesn't know how to tell a simple story or cobble together three-dimensional characters, and that's a problem not even the best of 3-D glasses can fix." Susan Wloszczyna of RogerEbert.com gave the film two out of four stars, saying "I kept thinking about Lilo & Stitch while watching Home, a decidedly disappointing effort based on the popular kid-lit book The True Meaning of Smekday from the already embattled folks at DreamWorks Animation."

Television series
An animated series titled Home: Adventures with Tip & Oh was released on Netflix on July 29, 2016. Rihanna and Jim Parsons do not reprise their roles as Tip and Oh; they are instead voiced by Rachel Crow and Mark Whitten, respectively (although Matt Jones reprises his role of Kyle from the film). It was developed by Thurop Van Orman and Ryan Crego.