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"Osmosis
Jones" takes place in the city of Frank (Bill Murray),
which also happens to be a person. Frank is an extremely sloppy
human being who will eat and drink anything with grease and beer
as ingredients. It should be no surprise that he is the creation
of the Farelly brothers, who are the directors of their
surprisingly good first kiddie flick.
This
movie alternates between Frank's live action lifestyle, and his
animated internal workings. One of those workings would be the
film's central character, Osmosis Jones (voiced by Chris Rock).
Jones is a hip white blood cell cop who chases down germs that
enter Franks body, but is also seen as a joke among the
department for a stunt he pulled earlier in his career.
Another
character inside Frank would be the Mayor (voiced by William
Shatner) or the brain, a man who cares more about keeping the
voters, who basically only want beer and fried food, happy than
keeping Frank healthy. There is a big election coming up, and so
to get ahead in the polls, his plan is to pack Frank and his
daughter up for a big buffalo wing festival.
The
only problem is a virus named Thrax (a deliciously evil Laurence
Fishburne) has entered Franks body and has proceeded into
causing fever and sore throat, with the big prize being
instantaneous death once he reaches the brain. The mayor, who
thinks its no big thing, decides to just enlist the services of
a cold pill, and for good measure, has Jones meet the pill at
the stomach- (made to look like an airport). The pill is a very
heroic, but also unhip, guy named Drix (David Heyde Pierce) who
Jones teams up with to stop Thrax.
"Osmosis
Jones" is one of the few enjoyable animated films of the
summer. It has the hook that "Atlantis" sorely missed
earlier this year and has a better story than anything that
could have come out of "Final Fantasy". The thing that
really grabbed me about "Jones" is how inventive it
can be. I liked how the cities underworld gang hangs out in
Franks armpit, and how every internal function of the body acts
as a person, and how everything inside Frank runs like it would
on the outside world. It also serves as a lesson about caring
for your body. Creativity is always being used in this film and
it's nice to see that one movie this summer isn't too special
effects driven to use some.
But
this wouldn't be a Farelly brother movie though without a lot of
tasteless humor, and for that they go right to Bill Murray.
Murray isn't just a breeding ground for disgusting things, he
performance is also right on target as he captures this sickly
character. The film also contains a few jokes, most seem to be
written by, and are put into the capable hands of, Chris Rock.
"Jones" is sort of a buddy comedy that steals from
other buddy movies, but that is the only thing in this movie
that questions originality. The rest of it will have you
"jonesin for some osmosis".
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