Featuring the voices of Jim Parsons and Rihanna. Rated G.

An alien race colonizes Earth by abducting humankind and placing us in a ghetto in the Australian desert. Any self-respecting sci-fi movie would use this as the setup for a rebellion—heck, Battlefield Earth did it—but in Home, it’s the opening to a cutesy-poo animated story about a misfit alien’s mission to be accepted and a stray girl’s quest to be reunited with her mom. Talk about missing the point.

However, that’s also Home’s demented charm. The geopolitical implications of one population taking over another’s land and arguing they should be happy with the slice they’re left with aren’t ignored by the film. Oh, the misfit alien, voiced by Jim Parsons of The Big Bang Theory, actually has a conversation about this with Tip, the girl played by freakin’ Rihanna. It’s just that parents may not be able to have a similar conversation with the film’s toddler target audience for a good decade.

Points go to DreamWorks for making the lead character a girl instead of a boy, black instead of white, and pear-shaped instead of waiflike. It’s also neat that significant chunks of action happen in France and Australia. It’s just that the rest of the filmmakers’ choices seem random and not especially amusing. The “Boov” aliens have a Day-Glo amusement-park theme, to the point where Oh rejigs Tip’s car so it’s powered by slushies. They speak in mangled English and think wheelbarrows are hats. If you’re over five, these bits don’t count as “jokes”. When Tip attempts a joke, it’s a knock-knock, so the humans aren’t much funnier.

Rihanna’s acting is surprisingly serviceable, while Parsons is doing Sheldon minus the snark and Steve Martin voices the head alien as if he’s Madagascar’s King Julien. It’s not their fault their characters aren’t as interesting as anyone in a Pixar film. Home is still worth taking the kids to—just don’t expect anything but the weird politics to intrigue adults.