An odd concept, perhaps a rough pill to swallow
too; but this bio film about animated cells inside
Billy Murray's body circulates well.
Osmosis (Chris Rock) plays the overzealous white
blood cell on the beat inside Frank. Keeping this
slob free from hostile germs and viruses is a tough job. In
the opening sequence, Frank wrestles a hard-boiled
egg out of the mouth of a monkey, "If it's on the
ground for less than ten seconds you can still eat
it!"
From there, the egg carries one serial killer
(Laurence Fishburne) of a virus into Downtown Frank.
Osmosis Jones teams up with a Navy Seal time-release
cold tablet (similar to the Woody/Buzz Lightyear
pairing of "Toy Story"). With or without the other
cops on the immunity force, these two must work fast
-- before Frank drops.
Starting out like some 16mm film you'd seen in
H.S. health class where a talking penicillin
character attacks a mean-faced syphilis or gonorrhea
bug, "Osmosis Jones" eventually picks up speed,
pumping with adrenaline and funky hiphop beats
(including a cameo by Kidney Rock). But it's the
constant asides, road signs, and pun-based humor
that'll tickle your funny-bone. And everyone knows
humor's the best medicine.
The animation (inside Frank) is solid though
standard (save for a sweet and juicy "subconscious"
scene), while the relatively few live-action scenes
(the outside of Frank) suffer from degraded
production value and rough edits.
Especially notable, David Hyde Pierce's
(A.K.A. Niles Craine on "Frasier") voicing of Drix
the pill; however, in my personal opinion, the
effectiveness of his kind on the body is overrated.
And Molly Shannon is over the top hilarious as
Frank's daughter's spit-upon elementary school
teacher.
Though I don't recall spending any time in that
particular organ, the film sports a little heart. I
suspect K-12 bio/health teachers will be playing this
one for generations to come.
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