Home

(PG) ★★

Director: Tim Johnson.

Cast: (voices of) Jim Parsons, Rihanna, Steve Martin, Matt L Jones, Jennifer Lopez.

Wrap around onesies are in this season.

THERE'S a theory that the older you get, the more young people and the things they like mystify and annoy you.

Exhibit A - Home, a strangely dull and rarely amusing slice of CG-animated children's entertainment that is likely to mystify and annoy the grown-ups as much as its shiny noisiness thrills the young'uns.

While it's not a complete loss, the cringingly warped dialogue and the frequent drab Rihanna songs will probably prevent this from being an all-ages smash like Frozen or Toy Story.

The film centres on a race of aliens called Boov who take over Earth while on the run from their mortal enemies. As part of the takeover, they relocate all humans to purpose built communities, inadvertently separating teenager Tip (Rihanna) from her mother (Lopez).

While Tip tries to avoid the Boov and find her mum, she bumps into Oh (Jim Parsons), a friendless accident-prone Boov who has inadvertently invited the enemy to Earth.

For some reason, the filmmakers thought it would be cute and/or funny to have Oh and his fellow Boov speak with a bizarre syntax that leaves Yoda's mangled sentences for dead but it's not cute and its seldom funny - it just gets on your nerves.

Equally grating is Rihanna, whose songs pepper the soundtrack, complete with a couple of obligatory dance sequences that are intended to help sell the spin-off album. The tunes feel obtrusive and more like advertising than enhancement.

Rihanna's voice performance as Tip isn't bad, but she does sound older than the character (who is supposed to be in her early teens yet seems reasonably comfortable driving a car).

But the biggest sin of Home is that it's not funny enough. Most jokes fall flat, with the best gags relating to toilet humour, which gives some idea of the heights the writers are aiming for.

There are some saving graces. The last act is pretty good, with the overly simplistic themes - the importance of family/friends and being bold - coming to a head in a decent conclusion.

Steve Martin is another saving grace as Boov leader Captain Smek. He does seem to be channelling King Julien from the Madagascar movies ever so slightly, but he's an interesting character nonetheless.

Home certainly looks great and has a sense of silliness that's enjoyable on occasion, but largely it's forgettable.

Maybe kids will enjoy this and maybe these are the grumblings of one not young enough to understand/appreciate it, but this is more than likely going into the DreamWorks pile of films you won't remember in five years time alongside Monsters Vs Aliens, Shark Tale and Turbo.