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Dreamworks Animation

Released: 2015

Director: Tim Johnson

Starring: Jim Parsons, Rihanna, Steve Martin, Jennifer Lopez

Writer(s): Tom J Astle, Matt Ember

Based on the book The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex

Rating: U for “Universal”

Grade: 4/5

WARNING! I will try my best not to spoil the movie for anyone who hasn’t seen it, but fair warning.

Guys, I was so close to ugly crying during this one. It’s definitely not an incredible movie (rotten tomatoes was not too keen on it), but it definitely has its moments. AND IT’S SO QUEER!

THE PROTAGONIST IS FEMALE AND A YOUNG PERSON OF COLOR! WHAAAAAT! Unprecedented. That’s honestly the reason why I wanted to see the movie. And I was super surprised to find out that basically the whole creative team are a bunch of white dudes. Which is kinda…weird? Whatever, good for them. Finally some white dudes are advocating for queer voices! My biggest complaint about the movie, honestly, is that the title is horrible. They couldn’t have figured out something a little more creative? Come on, guys.

Now to the story: we are first introduced to this alien race called Boov who are running away from their enemy, the Gorg, through the misfit Oh, so named for the reaction he gets from the other Boovs every time he enters a room. 

Oh is not your ordinary Boov. It’s actually really interesting how the movie introduces us to this culture through Oh’s perspective. Oh’s queerness is immediately present as we realize that he does not fit in, despite his blind optimism. Because we learn about this world from the queer perspective, the audience is left to connect the dots that make up the normative culture. The queer perspective gets prioritized over the norm perspective. That’s so cool! It also created a bit of a brain puzzle, trying to figure out why the other Boovs ostracized Oh so much when he seems so likeable to the audience. There are parts of Oh’s queer story that really hit home. (Spoilers! If you’re really a stickler…) Oh throws a party for his neighbours , but no one shows up. The other Boovs tiptoe past his apartment, careful not to let him know that they are just outside. Oh comes outside to find other Boovs, even wandering into another apartment, but he can’t find anyone to come to his party becase they are all hiding from him behind the couches. This scene (was it supposed to be comedic?) was actually kinda hard for me to watch. The cruelness of it really got to me. I’m glad the creators didn’t shy away from an honest portrayal of bullying.

Then we meet Gratuity “Tip” Tucci, our human protagonist played by Rihanna who KILLS it, btw. 

(Spoilers again!) So, when the Boov are running away from the Gorg, they arrive on Earth and “relocate” the entire human population to Australia. Pretty intense, right. Tip and her mom get separated during the relocation process and Tip gets left behind with her cat, Pig. The whole objective of the movie is to get Tip reunited with “my mom.” Not only do we have TWO WOMEN OF COLOR represented in the film, one of whom is the protagonist who has total plot driving power, we also see an alternative family structure with her mom as a single parent. There is never any mention of a dad, that he died, that he left, etc. It’s a non-issue. The focus here is on a loving mother-daughter bond, and a functional two-person family. BOOM. YES. MIND. BLOWN.

Then we get to the part where Tip and Oh meet. I won’t spoil all that for you, but all you need to know is they basically go on a road trip in a floating car. Sound good?  At first, they realllllllyyyyy don’t like each other. Being from antagonist species doesn’t really help the initial friendship. But they eventually learn to like each other. They take selfies and jam out. 

This friendship between queers is an awesome representation of collaboration across queer boundaries. Often, different kinds of queerness get sectioned off from each other culturally. Black culture is separate from gay culture, which is split into gay male culture and lesbian culture, latina/o culture is separate from trans culture, and so on an so forth. Intersectionalities make these separations even more complicated and narrow. Oh and Tip’s friendship builds the queer bridge between marginalized cultures. Even if a misfit alien and a young human girl of color have nothing in common from the outside, they share a queerness that bonds them beyond any cultural divides. I’ve found this to be true in most of the close friendships I’ve had in my life. I gravitate towards people who understand and identify as queer (explicitly or implicitly) in some way. Queers just get each other. Tip and Oh’s friendship also shows the power these collaborations can have. If queers would just bridge the divide and join forces, all those queer voices together could be much much louder than the normative folks. I think this is the real reason movies like this are starting to be made with queer protagonists. The entertainment industry is hearing the queer voices, particularly on the internet. Those voices are only getting louder. And that’s how progress happens, folks.

MVQ: Tip gets the win on this one. Did I mention that Rihanna kills.

OTP: Oh and Pig the Cat. Pig just fits so perfectly on top of Oh’s head.

Favorite moment: SPOILERS! I got super choked up when Tip and her mom finally reunited. Beautiful climactic moment.