The short, squat creatures that turn up in animated movies may all be starting to run together in your mind, which makes finding a distinctive voice for such characters all the more important. The creators of “Home” made an inspired choice in that regard for their little hero, recruiting Jim Parsons of “The Big Bang Theory” for the job, and they made another by pairing him with the pop star Rihanna.
The result is a charming concoction with positive messages for younger children about conquering fears, understanding outsiders and knowing yourself.
Mr. Parsons is Oh, an extraterrestrial of the Boov species, which is highly skilled at running away from danger and at taking over other species’ planets.
The Boov decide to inhabit Earth, gently relocating its humans to Australia, thereby inadvertently separating Rihanna’s character, Tip, from her mother, Lucy (Jennifer Lopez). Oh and Tip join forces to try to reunite mother and daughter and — oops — save the planet from annihilation, a threat seemingly brought on by a blunder any grown-up will relate to: an email Oh mistakenly sent to “reply all.
Yeah, this is another extraterrestrial-plus-human-child movie, and the Boov are yet another brightly colored runty people. But Oh’s imperfect grasp of English and the good will Mr. Parsons engenders make the character adorable, and Rihanna (who also provides some music, as does Ms. Lopez) gives Tip a likable edge.
Grown-ups, meanwhile, can ponder whether the movie, based on a children’s book by Adam Rex, contains a veiled pro-immigration message. Or perhaps it’s a statement about overreliance on material goods. When the Boov arrive on Earth, they get rid of any human things they have no use for by bundling them in antigravity balls so they float away. Seeing what they deem useless makes you realize that we humans do accumulate a lot of stuff
