Jim Parsons and Rihanna star in the animated film 'Home'
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It鈥檚 fair to say that most聽of the famous movies that鈥檝e revolved around the friendship between a young human and alien have involved a boy and an other-worldly creature (Elliott and E.T., Hogarth and the Iron Giant, etc.), though there are certainly memorable聽exceptions to that rule -聽Lilo and Stitch, being one of the better known. We can soon add another to that list in the form of聽, next year鈥檚 springtime release from DreamWorks Animation, formerly titled聽Happy Smekday!聽after Adam Rex鈥檚 source book, 鈥淭he True Meaning of Smekday鈥�. (Note: A 4-minute animated prologue to the film, titled 鈥淎lmost Home鈥�, has been attached to a couple of the recent DreamWorks animated releases.)
Home聽tells the story of 鈥楾ip鈥� (voiced by Rihanna), a teenager who crosses paths with Oh (Jim Parsons), a member of the Boov alien race, which has been hiding out on Earth. Oh, according to a montage in the movie鈥檚 first trailer (featured above), earned his name by being a perpetual nuisance to everyone around him; shame too since, other than being a bit clueless and having a bad habit of playing with the moving seat in the car too much, Oh seems like a pretty nice fellow, all things considered.
Anyone, the first trailer for聽Home聽focuses on introducing its central buddy duo from different planets, saving the task of plot sketching for a later theatrical preview. The thematic core of the story seems to be resemble that from DreamWorks鈥櫬爏eries, while the human and animation style seem more on par with the colorful and quirky tendencies of the animation studio鈥檚聽.
Rex鈥檚 source novel was adapted by screenwriter Tom J. Astle and Matt Ember (), while the film adaptation was directed by Tim Johnson (Antz,听Over the Hedge). Based on those credentials and the footage unveiled so far,听Home聽probably won鈥檛 rank as high as DreamWorks鈥� best work in the past (see: the聽How to Train Your Dragon听补苍诲听Kung Fu Panda聽movies), but it could well reach the same quality level as聽听濒颈办别听The Croods, appropriately enough.
Rounding out the voice cast for聽Home聽are such big names as Jennifer Lopez and Steve Martin, along with such folk as Matt Jones, whose聽credits include a聽stint on聽Breaking Bad聽and a voice-acting role on聽Beware the Batman.
Sandy Schaefer blogs at .
