A sweet but disposable movie that you will probably forget you watched before you walk fully out of the theater.
What Works: “Home”‘s strong suit isn’t the jokes so much as the sentimentality. There are some really affecting moments towards the end, particularly involving the continuation of a rival alien species. The “villains” in this story got to me a lot more than the oblivious hero aliens or the rote story of the human girl trying to find her mother. These things felt like space filler until we get to the last twenty minutes or so which is where most of what I can remember takes place.
What Doesn’t: There’s something about “Home” that seems like it’s barely trying, and that really started to get to me during the endless middle section which is essentially a long car ride between Rihanna and Jim Parsons (an odd couple duo that would be great for a buddy cop comedy, but their characters never really gel here). Plus, I felt the movie’s reliance on Rihanna’s own songs was vaguely tacky. Every ten minutes or so, another Rihanna song started playing and eventually the songs weren’t even really fitting the context of the scene. Soon, it felt like odious “brand extension” only the most cynical marketing exec could love.
What I Would Have Done Differently: “Home” started out as one of those animated short films that plays before a longer one, and maybe, juuuuuuust maybe, the premise works a lot better in small doses since I remember the short film being excellent.