Plot: What’s it about?
The Farrelly Brothers have shown us, time and again, that they can gross us out. This usually makes us laugh as well, but if you want to squirm in your chair or grimace your face in disgust, these are the guys to turn to. While I personally feel that they have steadily gone downhill since thier first major movie, Dumb and Dumber, I still find entertainment in their films. They really rose to stardom when ‘There’s Something About Mary’ became the megahit of the Summer a few years back. Since then, though, most of their films have been crash and burn. So with their latest effort, they decided to change things up a little. Osmosis Jones is not only the name of the film and it’s title character, it’s a very ambitious effort at creative filmmaking. The animation is a bit different than what we’re used to, very bright colors with slick, smooth lines and such. The only thing I can compare it to is Heavy Metal. And while I didn’t laugh out loud as much as I have with the Farrelly’s other movies, I can say that the entire concept is very clever, right down to the cellular level.
During the few live action scenes, we meet Frank (Bill Murray). Frank is what the movie is all about, literally! He has a daughter who is concerned for his health as she has lost her mother due to an unexplained illness. We see Frank working in a zoo and can observe that hygeine is the last thing on his mind. In a fight with a monkey, Frank manages to get a hard-boiled egg out of it’s mouth only for it to land on the ground. Utilizing the “ten second” (if something is on the ground for less than ten seconds, it’s ok to pick up and eat again) rule, he pops the egg in his mouth not knowing the germs and possible viruses that it may carry. It’s then that we’re introduced to the inner parts of Frank’s body and here where we meet Osmosis Jones (voiced by Chris Rock). Jones is a rebel white blood cell cop. There is a backstory to why he is constantly in trouble. Jones used his best judgment and pushed the “Puke” button after Frank had eaten a raw oyster at the Science Fair! Ever since then, he’s been sent out on assignments to the mouth where he’s not happy. So as it turns out, the egg that Frank ate contains a deadly virus and we see his immune system at work trying to keep his body in check. After Frank feels the after effects of what he ate, he takes a cold pill (as oppposed to going to the doctor). Keep in mind, this is an ordinary cold pill, but Drix (voiced by David Hyde Pierce) is certainly in charge once he gets into Frank’s stomach. It’s then that this becomes a “buddy” picture of sorts, teaming Drix with Osmosis Jones. Some other supporting players in Frank’s body are voiced by William Shater as the “Mayor of Frank” who is in the midst of a campaign against Tom Colonic (voiced by Ron Howard), Leah (voiced by Brandy Norwood) and the evil virus himself (voiced by Lawrence Fishburne).
As I mentioned above, this isn’t a laugh out loud comdey, but it’s very imaginative and clever. There are gross out parts, but unfortunately they all involve Bill Murray, who is purposely trying to look as bad as he possibly can for the part here. Teamed up again with Chris Elliott, the two characters have no real ambition besides working in the zoo, but Frank finally tends to realize how much his daughter loves him. I have to admit that I didn’t know if this storyline was going to work, live action and a comdey film have never really worked (Who Framed Roger Rabbit may be the only exception), but I found the dialogue funny, the writing very intellectual and the performances by the live actors and the voice-overs very entertaining. I doubt there will be a sequel, as even the Farrelly Brothers’ most successful movies haven’t inspired them, but if there were…I’d watch it.
Video: How does it look?
Ok, this is a bit harder to review than your average animated movie or your average live action film. I will say that I was instantly impressed with the way the animation looked. The film is presented in an anamorphic 2.35:1 image that looks super for the majority of the movie. During a few of the animation scenes, the background tends to have some pixelation which was noticeable, but not distracting. Overall, the colors of the animation looks very sharp and clear as do the live action scenes. Frank hasn’t shaved for days and you can see every hair on his face, which is either good or bad (depending on your point of view). This is a near perfect transfer, but a few faults kept it from getting that perfect mark. You won’t be disappointed, though.
Audio: How does it sound?
The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is very active throughout the movie and it plays a major part helping you get immersed into the film. There seems to be action in the surround channels during the course of the movie and it helps to build the atomosphere that you are actually inside a body. Very nice! There are several songs played throughout and the diaolgue is very clear. While the surrounds are doing their thing, the front speakers are very active as well. There are very few lapses in sound throughout the movie and I for one think that this is a great soundtrack.
Supplements: What are the extras?
While Osmosis Jones doens’t have a lot of extras to choose from, it does offer up some pretty interesting supplements. First is the feature-length commentary with Peter and Bobby Farrelly. I was kind of let down by the repeated times they were silent. They tend to offer up things like “This is the voice of Ron Howard, he agreed to do this part a long time ago”…but then just sit there in awe of their work. I would have expected more from these two, but the track is better to have than have not. There are a trio of deleted scenes, but they really make no sense. They are presented in a 2.35:1 letterbox format and vary in quality from rough animation to the full animation that appeared in the movie. There’s no explanation of where they would fit into the movie and I was kind of lost while watching them. Maybe that’s why they were deleted! A fifteen minute HBO First Look is hosted by Brandy Norwood who goes through the process of what it took to make the film. I liked this as it showed how different this was from movies like ‘Shrek’. In Osmosis Jones, the animation was built around the actors whereas with ‘Shrek’, the actors had to do their parts built around the animation. Interesting. There is also a five minute behind the scenes featurette, but it tends to repeat parts of what the HBO special already said. A theatrical trailer is presented in anamorphic widescreen thereby rounding out the supplements. There is an easter egg that I happened to find, on the main menu, click on the “Gas” street sign and take a guess as to what happens! I think that Osmosis Jones is a farily underrated movie, while a departure from the Farrelly Brothers normal genre, I’m sure they’ll be back to gross us out some more in the future.
