There have been quite a few standard and computer animated films this summer. We have had Shrek to the visually interesting, but badly plotted Final Fantasy. We have also had Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Osmosis Jones is the newest addition to the line up of animated movies this summer. Many people could be disgusted by the toilet humor that it reveals on its promos, but it was actually very good despite the low brow humor.

In the movie, we have a gluttonous Frank (played by Bill Murray), who at the time is working at the zoo. While Frank is trying to eat an egg smeared in mayonnaise and salt, a monkey steals it and tries to eat it, Frank gets it back but it drops on a dirt ground. Now that the egg is now covered in chimp saliva and dirt, Frank still eats it because of the ten-second rule. From that point, we are taken inside of Frank's body, which is actually a huge city (called the City of Frank) for single cell creatures. Once we go inside Frank, we see Osmosis Jones (voiced by Chris Rock), a not so good cop on the F.P.D. (Frank Police Department) that is doing menial police work in Frank's mouth. Frank's body starts to getting constantly sick due to the virus carried in on the egg called Thrax (Lawrence Fishbourne). Frank takes a cherry flavored cold pill, which turns into Drix (David Hyde Pierce). Drix teams up with Osmosis to get rid of Frank's cold.

The movie switches back from live action to animation depending on the action. In the live action scenes, we see how Frank reacts to his cold and his interaction between his lazy friend Bob (Chris Elliot)and his daughter Shane. We also get to see his interaction with Shane's teacher Ms. Boyd (Molly Shanon). Ms. Boyd sometimes gets the worst of Frank's bad hygiene and eating habits. The live action scenes in this movie are in typical of the directors (The Farrelly Brother's) style. Honestly, the live action stuff seemed a bit rushed at points.

The animation sequences on the other hand were great. The animation itself was just cool to look at. It was fluid and colorful. The character animation was also very inventive. The animators had fun with the microscopic characters modes of transportation. Some of the ideas that were used to make the city were clever, especially using Frank's zit as a nightclub (Kid Rock appears as a rapping germ in the nightclub, quite funny actually)
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In the film, we have an interesting cast of characters. Bill Murray again plays the total slob. While his character is a nice guy, his lack of good hygiene and disgusting eating habits make his character seem a bit idiotic. Chris Elliot was nothing special. I forgot his character as soon as I left the theater.
The animated characters are far more creative Rock is still able to have his smart ass attitude, but lays off the race jokes which is a refreshing change. Osmosis was a fun character, a smart ass, but a likable one at that. He still has a few racial qualities like talking about how he grew up in "South Central" (Frank's butt crack). Drix plays off Osmosis well. Drix is a bulky bodied robotic pill that has the intelligence of a chemist. Both Osmosis and Drix are an odd duo, but fit perfectly as the "good cop, bad cop" pair. Drix is the smart, professional, and not-that-hip type and Osmosis is somewhat of a screw up, but has a good amount of street smarts. The make for a fun partnership. I wish I could say the same for the film's villain Thrax. He wasn't a bad villain, he had cool features such as his infectious claws that he could just infect anything he wanted to kill, but otherwise he was kind of cliched. Thrax didn't have much of a reason to be a villain besides him being a deadly virus and wanting his name in medical text books. He just wasn't a very involving villain.

Despite a few flaws, I thought this was a good movie. Like I mentioned, the animation was good and very interesting, but the live action scenes are average. I would suggest seeing it especially if you are an animation buff. Those who get disgusted by bathroom humor easily might want to miss this.That's more the live action scenes than the animated ones (and the animation scenes take place inside the body, and yet less sickening, weird!). Otherwise, try it out, I definitely enjoyed myself watching this film.

Paul Ferris

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