This weekend, we watched Dreamworks’ new animated film, Home.  It was a cute movie with cute characters but nothing to write home about (pardon the pun).  The main character, Oh, was a fun little alien played by Jim Parsons.  For fans of Parsons (and Sheldon), he does not disappoint.  His character is endearing and logical and speaks in a funny way.  He’s basically the awkward guy with good intentions.  The other main character is a feisty tween girl named Tip who has been separated from her mother by this alien invasion.  Tip is played by Rihanna and her mother, by Jennifer Lopez.  Tip is a decent character though not overly likable at first.

The movie starts out a bit slow and disjointed but picks up in the second half.  There are nice songs playing throughout, all Rihanna’s of course.  Steve Martin voices the leader of the Boov aliens and plays a funny character who is best at running away.  My kids enjoyed the movie and I thought it was decent.  However, I was shocked that the theater was packed and our first choice of shows was actually sold out.  This movie really lucked out that there isn’t much else out there and people seem to be itching to watch movies.  There is no other reason that this movie should have brought in crowds like that.  I would have been fine waiting for this one on DVD but like I said, my family was also eager to go to the theater and Home lucked out.

The other thing that surprised me at the theater was the amount of inconsiderate people there.  This doesn’t relate specifically to this movie but it didn’t help my viewing experience.  There were people who brought babies with them.  Just because it is a kids’ movie doesn’t mean bring a baby who is going to keep making noises the whole time.  The other annoying thing was people who kept turning on their cell phone to look at it during the movie.  These inconsiderate adults think that since they aren’t talking it is fine but the light from their device is very disruptive as well.  I could understand someone looking discreetly one time in case of an emergency, but this was not the case.  It seemed to be a bored parent who was taking out their phone over and over.  It was like someone turning on a flashlight in the middle of the dark theater.  I wish people would stop doing these things.  Despite all this, I felt Home was an okay but not great movie!