Home Movie Review
Home is where the heart is.
And if your heart is with your family, then you would stop at nothing to be with that family member, whether they be family by blood or bond.
Tip, a young twelve year old girl, knows this very well. She will stop at nothing to find her mother, even befriending the alien, Oh.
Oh, along with the other Boov, hasn’t truly found a home for himself. The Boov move constantly from planet to planet, relocating the “primitive” creatures who live there in order to avoid their arch nemesis, the Gorg. With this unstable life, is it any surprise that Oh doesn’t have any true friends, let alone family?
Of course, Oh doesn’t help himself by being extremely foolish. When he accidentally sends an invitation to a house party to the whole galaxy, he puts the Boov and Earth at risk. While fleeing the police, he runs into Tip, and the unlikely friendship and journey begins.
Analysis
As Christians, have you ever heard that Earth is not our Home?
Where did that idea come from?
It came from the fact that the Kingdom of Heaven, or God’s eternal kingdom, is our true Home. Just like the Boov, we move through this life spiritually homeless until we join God in Heaven. This does not give us permission to remove ourselves from the world, like the cloistered nuns of the Middle Ages, but it does explain that feeling.
You know, the… “I’m so tired” feeling when you have no reason to be exhausted.
The grief and intense loss involved with the death of a loved one.
The restlessness that sometimes overtakes you even when everything is going well.
All of these feelings are natural. In fact, Paul speaks of them in 2 Corinthians 5:1-5
“For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”
We know that this life, and this place, isn’t our true home. Just like the Boov, we are alien invaders, outsiders in this life. Our lives are different from our neighbors, and sometimes we stick out.
“Why don’t you drink?”
“How can you smile, even now?”
Oh understands this very well. He is considered odd and abnormal by most of the Boov, and often isolated because of his unique personality. But Oh isn’t left in this state of isolation, and neither are we.
Despite the fact that this place isn’t our home, we still have a family in Christ.
“Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.”-Ephesians 2:19-20
And if home is also where our family is, not just heaven, we can have a bit of that here with the Christians around us. And we can definitely long for our true home in the meantime.
Content
This movie is rated PG and definitely tamer in terms of content.
Language: Name calling, but no cuss words.
Sexual Content: One time Oh is covered with glitter and a pink bra.
Violent Content: There is a time where the building is flipped, there is a shusher which Captain Smek smacks Boov and people with, and there is definitely destruction in the various shenanigans of Oh and Tip. No blood or gore is shown.
Ending Remarks
Overall, Home is a sweet film about a young girl reuniting with her mother and a young alien learning the value of home and family. There is definitely humor, fun, and an endearing message about how home is where your family is—even if the family has been relocated across the world. This movie is well-suited for adults and children alike.
M.H. Elrich is an author, reader, teacher, and otaku who wears too many hats. In her spare time, she watches T.V. with her husband and travels to places with lots of trees. She is a contributor to Finding God in Anime Vol. 2 and author of the Christian Fantasy series, the Daughters of Tamnarae.