I've read a few of the other (positive) comments about Osmosis Jones and I'm convinced they must've been written by WB marketing folks...this movie sucks. The audience I saw it with was largely quiet and seemed as uninvolved in it as I was. About the only thing going for it is the vocal talent (Rock, Fishburne, Pierce, Shatner) but even that ended up being disappointing.
The concept just doesn't work. There's a major disconnect between the live action sequences with Frank (Bill Murray) in the real world (which make up perhaps 1/3 of the movie) and theanimated sequences of what's going on inside his body. For me, this very cartoony anthropomorphic world of his internal organisms (the animation design reminds me of the Simpsons a little bit) just cannot possibly exist at all in the real world...yet we are supposed to believe that Frank's white blood cells look like Smurf/Bart Simpson hybrids and sound like Chris Rock...it was just impossible for me to suspend my disbelief as the film cuts back and forth between these two completely different universes.
That said, I guess the filmmakers do what they can with it, the way they visualize the city of Frank (the inhabitants refer to his brain as Cerebellum Hall, the armpits are where all of the evil bacteria and viruses hang out and veins are shown as busy highways) is somewhat clever but, again, entirely too fantastic to exist in the real world. And then when these wholly disparate worlds collide, and
the animated micro-organisms are literally travelling from one person to another AND THEN BACK AGAIN via phlegm and tears in the real world...well, that's when the impossible becomes
TOTALLY LUDICROUS.
And it doesn't help that all of the live-action actors (notably Murray, Molly Shannon and Chris Elliott) appear to just be collecting paychecks. Murray has achieved a new low here...I enjoyed his recent turns in `Rushmore' and `Charlie's Angels' but this is just plain embarrassing for him. The Farrelly brothers just must've told him to be as disgusting and slovenly as possible, which is fine I guess but that's all he has to do in this and what a waste of his talent. And the result is we just don't care about his character...he's repugnant and an idiot. So what if the Thrax (the virus) causes him to die? The audience feels no sympathy towards Murray and that is the fatal flaw of the film.
And really, I expected more of Rock...there are a couple of scenes where it looks like he was able to improvise and do his thing but for the most part the filmmakers keep him on a pretty short leash and stick to the script, and I really think that an opportunity may have been missed there. Used properly, I think Rock could do great voice-overs for animated films.
Oh yeah, one more thing...why can't a comedic film come out without some dumb film parody in it? You've seen the action in the Matrix parodied a million times already...well add another attempt (very feeble at that) to the list. It's really getting annoying, and pedestrian animated films like this one really have no new insights to add as far as that parody goes. That's what we have Simpsons and South Park for.
One final note...I had this weird feeling when I walked out of the theater...as if the film just didn't work, and I knew the movie reminded me of another, but I couldn't remember what at first. Then it came to me...remember `The Last Action Hero'? That film left me with that same feeling, because Arnold Schwarzenneggar plays the role of a movie character that comes to life in the real world. It was just totally impossible to believe and renders the film - no matter how well it's done and how well everything else is conceived - toothless. And Osmosis Jones falls flat for the same reason. Audiences can suspend their disbelief...but only to a certain point.
The concept just doesn't work. There's a major disconnect between the live action sequences with Frank (Bill Murray) in the real world (which make up perhaps 1/3 of the movie) and theanimated sequences of what's going on inside his body. For me, this very cartoony anthropomorphic world of his internal organisms (the animation design reminds me of the Simpsons a little bit) just cannot possibly exist at all in the real world...yet we are supposed to believe that Frank's white blood cells look like Smurf/Bart Simpson hybrids and sound like Chris Rock...it was just impossible for me to suspend my disbelief as the film cuts back and forth between these two completely different universes.
That said, I guess the filmmakers do what they can with it, the way they visualize the city of Frank (the inhabitants refer to his brain as Cerebellum Hall, the armpits are where all of the evil bacteria and viruses hang out and veins are shown as busy highways) is somewhat clever but, again, entirely too fantastic to exist in the real world. And then when these wholly disparate worlds collide, and
the animated micro-organisms are literally travelling from one person to another AND THEN BACK AGAIN via phlegm and tears in the real world...well, that's when the impossible becomes
TOTALLY LUDICROUS.
And it doesn't help that all of the live-action actors (notably Murray, Molly Shannon and Chris Elliott) appear to just be collecting paychecks. Murray has achieved a new low here...I enjoyed his recent turns in `Rushmore' and `Charlie's Angels' but this is just plain embarrassing for him. The Farrelly brothers just must've told him to be as disgusting and slovenly as possible, which is fine I guess but that's all he has to do in this and what a waste of his talent. And the result is we just don't care about his character...he's repugnant and an idiot. So what if the Thrax (the virus) causes him to die? The audience feels no sympathy towards Murray and that is the fatal flaw of the film.
And really, I expected more of Rock...there are a couple of scenes where it looks like he was able to improvise and do his thing but for the most part the filmmakers keep him on a pretty short leash and stick to the script, and I really think that an opportunity may have been missed there. Used properly, I think Rock could do great voice-overs for animated films.
Oh yeah, one more thing...why can't a comedic film come out without some dumb film parody in it? You've seen the action in the Matrix parodied a million times already...well add another attempt (very feeble at that) to the list. It's really getting annoying, and pedestrian animated films like this one really have no new insights to add as far as that parody goes. That's what we have Simpsons and South Park for.
One final note...I had this weird feeling when I walked out of the theater...as if the film just didn't work, and I knew the movie reminded me of another, but I couldn't remember what at first. Then it came to me...remember `The Last Action Hero'? That film left me with that same feeling, because Arnold Schwarzenneggar plays the role of a movie character that comes to life in the real world. It was just totally impossible to believe and renders the film - no matter how well it's done and how well everything else is conceived - toothless. And Osmosis Jones falls flat for the same reason. Audiences can suspend their disbelief...but only to a certain point.