When it was announced that The True Meaning of Smekday was going to be made into a movie called Home, I was beyond excited. The True Meaning of Smekday is a fun book about an alien invasion that’s actually about colonialism and imperialism, and it stars Gratuity “Tip” Tucci, a biracial girl who, along with her cat and an alien Boov friend, saves the Earth. How cool would it be to see this on the big screen?!
Well, as it turns out, it wasn’t that cool. As an adaptation, Home fails on almost every conceivable level. It’s no longer about colonialism or imperialism except in the most shallow of ways, and what’s worse, Tip can no longer truly be called our protagonist. However, because the plot of the movie is so different from the plot of the book, I think it’s worthwhile to judge the movie on its own merits, and write a post comparing the two when I’ve seen the movie again or when the DVD comes out. Unfortunately, as a Hollywood film, Home turned out to be a predictable, only casually funny, dull movie.
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