To my fellow Smekday / Home fans concerned over one or the other and whether or not you have to choose:
I can’t believe this has to be said, but the amount of complaining I’ve seen for the movie that not only borders on stuck up and even elitist, but says that you literally can’t like the movie is quite irritating to me, and it’s time somebody says something about this. Before you get on my tail, I’ve read both books. The book and movie have their own unique plotpoints, their own flaws, one with flaws way more prevalent than the other, but you can still appreciate the movie for what it is.
As for the books, I heavily appreciate the lighthearted fun, dark undertones, and the fun story that’s attached to it. I like the designs of the aliens, and I like the stakes and real consequences involved. I love how the post-invasion world is described, how desolate and hopeless it all seems. I love the eerieness of it all, I love the development and worldbuilding of the boov themselves. I love how their history is laid out, I love the koobish, I love the deep, touching characters and their personal journeys, I love how the second book delves deeper into post-invasion Boovish society, I love how we get to explore their architecture, I love how the bees are described, I love how the silliness of the plot doesn’t distract from the seriousness of some aspects and scenes of the book, just all of it.
On the other hand, the movie, whilst different and considerably more flawed, is a personal favorite of mine, and I watched it at least 7x during my Home/Smekday hyperfixation. I do have a gripe with the title and it should have been more specific, and even considering its many flaws in comparison to the book, I love the campy fun of it all, I love the visuals, I love the music, I love the score (If you don’t think Frolicking in Paris is an epic masterpiece, then what kind of monster are you? /t /lh), I love how Dreamworks adapted the story in their own way, I love the design of the Boov, I love the play into shape language, I love how the Gorg were done (even if they should have been a different alien species), I love the underlying tone, I love how Oh redeems himself, I love how the two protags bond, just all of it.
The only piece of Smekday media I don’t fully like is the Adventures With Tip and Oh series, given its numerous flaws and cookie-cutter nature, but even then, it can still considerably stand on its own, and has some fun elements that make it unique in its own right. Hell, they even adapt some concepts from the book in greater capacity in the series, which I personally appreciate for that. BoyBoyGirl Band is a cool concept that something can be done with if elaborated on a bit more, and Sharzod is also pretty neat if you adapt them right.
Plus, pointing out the differences between book and movie whilst reading was really fun too, and looking into both gave me incredible insight into how both versions are done, as well as how they can be done further with a little bit of fanwork. Reading the books and watching the movie gave me a lot of fun and good ideas for an AU later down the line, and I can’t wait to fully get it off the ground beyond a few concepts I did. If you can’t pick one or the other, I think a fun little AU would be the perfect project to look into and use both (or even all 3 / 4) pieces of source material with in a way you see fit!
In conclusion, you can like both. It’s not a big deal, and while you can be mad about the movie and how it admittedly did kinda butcher a lot of the book in a few ways, that doesn’t give you the right to lord over what others can and can’t like, nor does it give you the right to shame others for liking the version that you don’t like. I do not want to have to argue over this, my stance is final.
In order to cement this as a Smekday / Home post, here’s a few images of boov.
