Home Is Not Where the Heart Is: Dreamworks’s Adaptation Fails Its Source Material

Listen, they’re cute, but…

Earlier this year, Dreamworks remade the book The True Meaning of Smekday into a movie called Home, which racked up a lot of money. However, in adapting the book, they ended up changing almost everything that was awesome about the book—so much so that I reviewed the book and the movie as two completely different stories. Now that the DVD of the movie is finally out, I thought it was about time that I compared the book and the movie, to further illustrate where the movie adaptation went wrong. The movie destroyed the book’s protagonist, theme, and diversity, leaving us with just a bunch of dancing squishy aliens. Spoilers for both book and movie after the jump.

Five Reasons You Should Read The True Meaning of Smekday

Back in July I wrote a Trailer Tuesdays on Home, an adaptation of a children’s book called The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex. After doing some research, I found out that the book was intended to be a satire of colonialism, and I thought to myself, “Luce, you should so read this book.”

So I did. And guess what? You should too. I have five very compelling reasons, as well as some slight spoilers, for you after the jump.