First Look at Jim Parsons, Rihanna and Steve Martin in DreamWorks Home

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Over the past few years DreamWorks Animation has continued to up the ante when it came to their feature presentations. With HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, THE CROODS and RISE OF THE GUARDIANS, they are offering up quality storytelling with great animation. And from the looks of it, we just might be in for another treat with next year’s release HOME – due out March 27, 2015. Based upon the novel “The True Meaning of Smekday” by Adam Rex, this alien invasion adventure features Jim Parsons, Rihanna and the legendary Steve Martin, and thanks to the fine folks at DreamWorks Animation, we were given a preview of the new film.

With an incredibly lively introduction by the film’s director Tim Johnson (ANTZ, OVER THE HEDGE), a group of journalist were presented with about twenty minutes of HOME. The footage was far more charming than I had anticipated, with a ton of humor and not surprising, a little musical contribution from Rihanna. What struck this viewer was the relationship between the characters Tip (voiced by Rihanna) and Oh (voiced by Parsons) and just how darn infectious they are together. He plays an overly friendly alien on the run from his own kind – a nomadic intergalactic alien race called the Boov. And she is one of the few remaining humans who haven’t been “collected” – along with her scene-stealing cat. Seriously love that cat!

The footage presented offered a look at Tip and Oh’s first meeting when she locks him in with the milk in a refrigerated cabinet at an abandoned market. Parsons is able to really deliver some very funny dialogue while trying to convince the girl to let him out. I loved the back and forth between the two, and you can tell there are going to be a couple of heart-tugging moments as both characters seem to be a little lost and misunderstood – I’m a sucker for that in animated features. And while we didn’t get to see a whole bunch of Steve Martin as Captain Smek (the leader of the Boov), aside from what seemed close to the film’s climactic end, it was enough to make me once again ecstatic to hear this incredible talent bring a goofy sensibility to what he later he lovingly referred to as a “dumb villain role.”

After the footage, Johnson, Rihanna, Parsons and Martin discussed the film and answered a few fan questions. It was an engaging chat that offered a ton of laughs and an especially candid moment from Parsons. Per usual, the sequences were not complete, yet I can honestly say I’m sold on this one – it helps that I have a bit of a Rihanna crush going on.

The first question inquired from the stars what drew them to doing an animated feature:

Rihanna: Neither of us [referring to Parsons] have done an animated film and it was just the story. The story just spoke to me. It was so real and I found so many parallels in it and I felt like I identified with Tip. She is essentially a role model, and for me it was very strange to read a character that you can look up to, and I was very excited [about it].

Parsons: Even before I knew what the story was I was excited about the idea just because I wanted the chance to do an animated film. And once we talked about it, I just liked the character I was playing so much, even the way he looked. I held up [Oh’s image] to a friend and said could I voice this, and they said, ‘Oh yes!’ and then once we got involved. It’s the most interesting playtime I’ve ever had as an actor.

Steve Martin of course injected some serious humor to the discussion.

Martin: I know Jeffrey Katzenberg and we both drive the same car. I knew there would be an immediate bond. And when I heard that it was Tim Johnson directing, I thought, ‘Is he a foreigner with an exotic name?!?’ It would be interesting on THAT level [Laughing].

On a more serious note he added:

I love the animated process because it’s kind of like writing a play. You can try it out and you can change it. You can go back and experiment in seventy different ways. When I saw the first animated sequences I was really astounded. I thought it was beautiful, and so much emotion can be brought in an animated film that is very hard to get in a live-action film.

When asked about the themes that spoke to him, Mr. Parsons added:

Parsons: The little guy I play, Oh the alien, he really comes in with a set of ideas on how the world is supposed to be. He thinks that is all good and right. He meets the character Rihanna plays named Tip, and he really begins to understand what it is to accept other people who have different ways of doing things. His beliefs may be different than yours, but you can still be very, very close and that really resonates with me in our own lives.

I thought a lot about being a gay person while making this movie, even though it has nothing to do with that specifically at all, but being judged by something that people may not identify with and have certain beliefs about, and then they get to know who you are. That’s just the one I personally identify with obviously and that could be a million things. Just how important it is to take people at a different level than that.

While it is clear that there are some very thoughtful themes and ideas running through HOME, including the importance of friendship and finding a common bond, the twenty or so minutes we saw were incredibly funny, sweet and entertaining. Parsons is especially good as the well-meaning alien who befriends a teenager in need. And did I mention the Rihanna crush? HOME will be coming to a theatre near you on March 27, 2015 and I am very much looking forward to it.