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It’s still got about five or six weeks before wrapping animation, but that didn’t stop director Tim Johnson and DreamWorks Animation from screening in late November footage from its March 27 release Home.

Johnson, a DreamWorks Animation veteran who previously co directed Antz and Over the Hedge for the studio, says the movie begins with the arrival on Earth of the Boov, a pariah-like alien race seeking a new planet on which to live. Using its special gravity tools, it easily and peacefully takes over Earth and relocates all humans to individual picket-fence homes in Australia. But the Boov has missed one human: a young girl named Gratuity, or “Tip,” who manages to survive with her cat in the big city and longs to reunite with her mother.

Meanwhile, a misfit Boov named Oh has accidentally forwarded to the entire galaxy a party invitation that reveals the Boov’s new location, making him a hunted outcast. And — as you might expect — Oh and Tip meet up, join forces and head off on a quest to solve their problems and learn a little bit about each other along the way.

The clips had a nice tone; yes, they were fast-paced, comedic and zingy, but the animation is showing improvements in smoothness and character expression over even the huge leap DreamWorks Animation made with How to Train Your Dragon 2. The pastel color scheme is distinct, and the movements of Oh — the Boov change shape and colors, it seems, depending on their mood — are as organic and smooth as a CG movie of this level can be.

Home is due in theaters March 27.

MacLaren will work with Warner’s comics movie guru Zack Snyder and the film’s writers to develop the movie, which is set for release in 2017.

Gal Gadot has already been cast as Wonder Woman and will appear in Snyder’s sequel to Man of Steel, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, out in 2016. Gadot also will play the character in the two-part Justice League movie, directed by Snyder.

12Today is Disney-Pixar honcho John Lasseter’s birthday.