Home - C+

Rated PG, 94 minutes
Wes's Grade: C+

More aliens? "Home" is energetic but bland, unoriginal fun

They say that home is where the heart is, and the modestly entertaining new animated movie "Home" has plenty of heart and fun moments to please the young set, though its so bland they won't remember much of it after its over. Though based on the 2007 best-selling kids book "The True Meaning of Smekday" by Adam Rex, the over-used alien plotting gives it a "been there, done that" feel. An optimistic yet inept alien race called the Boov led by Captain Smek (Steve Martin) invade the Earth to hide from their mortal enemy and make it their new home. Convinced that they are doing humans a favor, they begin to relocate them to a Desert Planet. A resourceful teenage girl named Tip (Rihanna), manages to avoid capture.When on the run and looking for the location of her mother Lucy (Jennifer Lopez), she is accompanied by a banished Boov named Oh (Jim Parsons) who has accidentally notified his people's enemies of their location. Directed by Tim Johnson ("Antz," "Over the Hedge"), "Home" is blandly energetic and predictable, silly fun that kids will get most out of, though like most things based on kids' books, it's redundant and much of it seems padded, considering its thin source. Pop singer Rihanna and "The Big Bang Theory's" Parsons make for a good voice pairing, though "Home" often feels like a vehicle for Rihanna, who also provides a few original songs on the soundtrack, as does Lopez (interestingly, Parsons' character Oh in the book is named J Lo and changed here to avoid confusion), who has a small role as Mom. "Home" is peppered with some colorfully humorous moments and clean animation but simply put, it's too familiar, too redundant and too long. The buddy-buddy storyline, seemingly expanded from the original novel, and the overused fish-(this time alien)-out-of-water plotting grow tiresome quickly, in spite of its admirable messages of individuality, friendship and speaking up. "Home" isn't terrible, but isn't terribly original, either, and do we really need more animated aliens? Serviceable but unmemorable family fun.