Saturday, January 28, 2023

Home (2015)

  I can't remember why I added this.  It's not very good.  Like a knock-off Lilo and Stitch.  If Stitch were a cluelessly genocidal colonizer.

Oh (Jim Parsons) is a Boov, an alien species known primarily for running away from everything.  All he wants is to make friends and throw a party, but when he accidentally sends the invite to the entire galaxy, it alerts the Boov's enemy to come to their newest hiding spot, Earth.  Oh needs to cancel the invite but as a wanted fugitive, it's a little tough.  He also must contend with an angry human named Tip (Rhianna) who was separated from her mom (Jennifer Lopez) during the Boov's relocation of all humans to Australia.  

They might as well have called this Manifest Destiny: The Animated Adventures.  The Boov move to a planet, forcibly relocate all "backwards, primitive" inhabitants, then use all their resources while making poorly informed assumptions about the culture they are trampling.  It's a White (Purple?) Savior narrative dressed up in cutesy clothes.  Oh is scared of Tip but still demands she help him and only realizes that she's a thinking, feeling creature (and ergo, so are all humans) after a transatlantic road trip.    Then of course he'll move heaven and earth to see her reunited with her mom.  

It's an interesting take, to be sure.  I hadn't seen it addressed in any other children's films but I think it's still clunky and centers on the wrong viewpoint.  It's streaming on Netflix if you're interested.

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