Respond to these rapid questions in our Home quiz and we will tell you which Home character you are. Play it now.
While watching “Home,” a comedic animated take on alien-attack thrillers with the typical tacked-on touchy-feely messages, I started to get bored, as did the families that were seated around me in the theater. Rare is the child-filled theater that remains silent during the opening minutes of any movie, especially when they should have been laughing at Steve Martin’s supposed wild-and-crazy vocals as Smek, the daffy leader of a nomadic race of pastel-colored outer-space blobs known as the Boov. This is especially true when they should have been laughing at Steve Martin’s supposed wild-and-crazy vocals as Smek.
After that, I felt a pang of melancholy creep up on me. Disney made a bold move when it released the two-dimensional “Lilo & Stitch” in 2002, just as the computerized revolution that began with “Toy Story” and continued with “Shrek” and “Ice Age” was about to make such non-computer-generated cartoon titles nearly obsolete. At the time, artists still took great pride in drawing images by hand, and donning cheap plastic 3-D glasses was considered de rigueur.
This disarming tale of a lonely orphaned Hawaiian girl whose best friend is an ill-tempered fugitive space creature that looks like a mutant koala bear and acts like John Belushi at an all-day buffet has, for some reason, found its way into the hearts of moviegoers. The creature in question resembles a mutant koala bear and acts like John Belushi at an all-day buffet.
It wasn’t dependent on a green ogre picking wax out of his trumpet ears or a squirrel-rat being tormented over and over again by the elements. The charming oddity was able to capture the spirit of the islands by praising the concept of “ohana,” which celebrates family and unity, while simultaneously playing old Elvis Presley songs as its soundtrack. The amount of science fiction elements that were included was kept to a bare minimum. Instead, the emphasis was placed on likeable characters, relationships that were easy to identify with, and charming excursions into Polynesian kitsch. And despite the fact that it was considered a long shot to win the Oscar for best animated feature, the low-tech film that was nominated for the award ultimately brought in $271 million from ticket sales all over the world.
But you shouldn’t waste any more time and start this Home quiz.
What a difference time has made in the world of animation, and not always for the better. While I was watching “Home,” a decidedly disappointing effort from DreamWorks Animation based on the popular children’s book “The True Meaning of Smekday,” I couldn’t help but keep thinking about “Lilo & Stitch.” The folks at DreamWorks Animation are already in a lot of trouble. After “How to Train Your Dragon 2” was upstaged at the Academy Awards by Disney’s “Big Hero 6,” and after “Penguins of Madagascar” failed to meet expectations in the fall, the studio needed its lone offering this year to be a significant step forward instead of this obvious exercise in playing it safe.
I yearned for a respite from all of the nonstop joking, the antsy visuals that were overflowing with bubbles, and the frantic pacing that was occurring as the Boov were taking over Earth and kicking humans to the curb. Tip, a pre-teen girl originally from Barbados who had somehow evaded the intergalactic interlopers, meets a socially awkward Boov named Oh, who is voiced by Jim Parsons from the television show “The Big Bang Theory.” A significant portion of the plot is amazingly similar to that of “Lilo & Stitch”: Tip, who is voiced with verve by Rihanna; Oh; Oh, who avoids using contractions when he speaks (a lot of “do nots” and “cannots”) in a supposedly amusing patois, is currently on the run after inadvertently tipping off his race’s archenemy to the location of their new abode.
Home Quiz
Tip is desperate to find her mother, played by Jennifer Lopez, who was abducted along with the rest of humanity and taken to an unknown location. In addition to surviving on what appears to be cans of Chef Boyardee, Tip is eating what appears to be canned food. Because of this, she initially has a mistrust of Oh and locks him up in a cooler at a convenience store. He does this adorable thing where he stares through the glass and keeps asking, “Can I come in from the outside now?”
Also, you will find out which character are you in this Home quiz.
In spite of the fact that most Boov are timid and lack the social skills necessary to make friends, they are very knowledgeable when it comes to various types of technological devices and practical tools. Oh triumphs over Tip by transforming Tip’s wrecked car into a flying vehicle using the vending machines at the store’s snack bar as power sources and slushies as the propulsion mechanism. Take into consideration that one of the flavors is called “Busta Lime,” which is a joke that is repeated at least three times, and that will tell you everything you need to know about how humorous the product is. After that, “Home” becomes an adventure that spans the globe and is shared by the Tip, her cat named Pig, and Oh.
It was my intention to spend some time getting to know Tip and Oh better before allowing them the opportunity to marvel at a Boovified Statue of Liberty and put the Eiffel Tower in danger. But for the most part, they engage in heated debate in an extremely loud manner until they naturally become best friends. There are some witty moments, such as when Oh does her big dance number to the song “Dancing in the Dark” by Stargate. On the other hand, we are then required to hear Tip say, “Shake your Boov thing.” Things might turn out even worse. Oh, and the character in the book is named… wait for it… J. Lo. Since Ms. Lopez only has a few lines in the movie and sings one song on the soundtrack, it is reasonable to assume that this was the reason why she was cast (Rihanna, however, gets a bunch of tunes).
About the quiz
The majority of what bothered me about the story was that certain plot points ought to have been addressed right from the start. Indeed, the Boov have the ability to control gravity to their own benefit. But since when do people on Earth simply follow orders and not put up a fight when they are herded into collective confinement by outsiders? Was there not even an attempt to fight back from anyone? What just happened? Did the president or the military give up? Strangely, when we are shown where they are exiled, it appears to be a theme park with rides, ice cream cones, and smiling faces. This place has been given the name Happy Humantown. And why is it that it seems as though Tip is the only one who was able to avoid being sucked up into a giant vacuum tube and taken away by these creatures that look like a cross between a jellyfish and an eraser?
Also, you must try to play this Home quiz.
You do not submit, people. Does no one remember watching “War of the Worlds” or, if they prefer something more obscure, “Mars Attacks!”?
It is a shame that “Home” is not a better film because it does provide a much-needed break from one of DreamWorks’ less admirable traditions. Tip is not only one of the few female main characters that the studio has (I can think of two others, Susan aka Ginormica from “Monsters vs. Aliens” and Gloria the hippo from the “Madagascar” series), but she is also one of the few female main characters in the entire franchise. She is the first woman of color to play the lead role in a major motion picture, and she has gorgeous natural hair and the proportions of a real girl’s body.
As it came to a close (with another dance number, of course, because you’ve got to shake that Boov thing as much as possible), “Home” did make me appreciate one thing: being able to head back to my home and dig out my copy of “Lilo and Stitch.”
For more personality quizzes check this: Spectre Quiz.
