Customer Reviews

Osmosis Jones [VHS]

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

Osmosis Jones is one of those movies you almost feel like you have to apologize for liking. Well, forget about it, because this is a very funny and downright entertaining movie with no class whatsoever!

The scenes bounce between live acting and full animation, determined by whether we are outside or inside the body of Frank. The casting for this silly and peculiar movie was expertly chosen for both live and voice roles.

Live, we have Bill Murray as Frank, in his most disgusting character since Caddyshack. Chris Elliot plays his brother Bob, and manages to challenge Murray in the "disgusting slob" category. Murray eats a hard boiled egg that landed in monkey doodoo, and thus introduces Thrax into his body, a red-death virus determined to take over Frank and kill him. (voiced by Laurence Fishburne)

Inside of Frank, we go to the animation where Chris Rock is the voice of our hero, a white blood cell named Osmosis Jones. Jones is a detective for the City Of Frank, where William Shatner does the voice for Mayor Phlemming. Jones knows something is wrong, but the Mayor denies any illness could occur in Frank. But just to be safe, he "manually overrides" Frank and has him take a cold pill.

Meet Drix, the huge and snotty cold pill, whose voice is played by David Hyde Pierce (Frazier's brother Niles). Jones and Drix make an unlikely team as they hunt down Thrax and try to stop him from killing Frank.

Nothing is taboo here; they go to the nose and get caught up in the wave of snot when Frank's allergies act up, they travel to The Zit, Frank's hottest new club where Kidney Rock is playing (Kidd Rock), and Jones reminisces about the time he hit the "Panic Button" in Frank's stomach, causing him to vomit all over his daughter Shane's teacher. (played live action by Molly Shannon)

Boogers, snot, vomit, farts, and zits; its all here. Ron Howard even does a guest voice as Tom Colonic, running for Mayor against Phlemming, who broadcasts his campaign commercial from The Bowels.

This is visceral entertainment with a squishy feel to it, riotously funny and well endowed with toilet humor; silly campy comedy at its very best. In David Litton's excellent review below, he mentioned that this was a "Fun Time-waster". Indeed it is, David. Enjoy!

I've been a 5th grade teacher for 5 years and have shown this movie each year as a reward after learning about the human body in science/health. The kids, for the most part, really enjoy it. There is just enough nasty stuff in there to gross them out - which they love! As a teacher, I just love the entire analogy of the story - every little cell in the body is working toward the same goal - keeping Frank alive. The kids like it, and I also enjoy it. There are some moments in there that are more adult humor that the kids don't even catch, so I'm able to get a laugh out of it.

Osmosis Jones is a really good movie, if a bit... well... disgusting at times.
The plot revolves around a white blood cell named Osmosis Jones (voiced by Chris Rock) who serves as a police officer in the body of a guy named Frank (Bill Murray).
When a dastardly virus named Thrax (voiced by Laurence Fishburne) invades Frank's body, it's up to the immunity force to stop him, and Ozzy is teamed up with a cold tablet named Drixobensomedaphedramine, or Drix for short (voiced by the always-wonderful David Hyde Pierce).
Meanwhile, the pompous blood cell politician in charge of Frank's body, Mayor Phlegmming (voiced by William Shatner), is desperate to win the next election, but he is obviously doing a sub-par job of running Frank's body. His aide (and Ozzy's love interest), Leah, is voiced by Brandy Norwood.

This movie is very amusing in some places, but I had to deduct one star because it is, on occasion, REALLY DARN GROSS. I had to turn my head away from the screen in some places. However, this is by no means a bad movie. I personally consider David Hyde Pierce's portrayal of Drix to be one of the best things in the film (if not the very best), especially when Drix busts a secret mob meeting at a disco and utters the following line, doing some dance steps as he speaks:
"Attention, germs, you are surrounded. Uh-huh, uh-huh. Uh-huh, uh-huh, SURROUNDED!". Trust me, it's worth seeing just for that part.

Overall, Osmosis Jones is definitely worth seeing, and it could also be used to teach an anatomy lesson, because it's very accurate. Just watch out for the gross bits.

Movie Summary: Osmosis Jones is a white blood cell in the body of Frank. He is a cop who defends Frank from invading germs. Frank is a disgusting human being who eats a hard boiled egg from the floor of a monkey's cage and in the process ingests a nasty virus named Thrax. Jones is the only cop who is on to Thrax's evil plan to kill Frank in record time. Jones gets help from an over the counter cold pill named Drix and together they fight to save Frank's life.

My Opinion: The animated portions of the movie were entertaining and fun. The live action portions of the film were gross and not that funny. If it had been 95% animation, this would have been a lot better film. As it is, its audience would be mostly teen and pre-teen boys who are into the gross out humor. Bill Murray's character is disgusting and very hard to like. He doesn't treat his daughter very well. He comes across as very unsympathetic. In the animated portions, all the characters are well done. Chris Rock does an excellent job as Jones. He's funny and you end up rooting for him. David Hyde Pierce is perfect as Drix the cold pill. They make a surprisingly good team. Laurence Fishburne and William Shatner round out the excellent animated cast. If only they could have toned down the live action parts and made Frank more likable. Then we'd probably have a hit on our hands.

DVD Quality: Video: Widescreen anamorphic - 2.35:1 Animation is very crisp and clear. Sound: DD 5.1 The dialog is quiet and the music is loud. Extras: Commentary, Trailers, Behind the Scenes Documentary, Deleted Scenes, Hidden Clip Menus: Average Animated Menus. This is a decent DVD release with a fair amount of extras.

What You Should Do: Rent it if you've got some teen age boys in the house. The animated portion of the story is great, but the live action scenes can get pretty gross.

Related Movies To Check Out: Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Toy Story, Cool World

This is a great movie for kids and I found it thoroughly entertaining as an adult as well. I don't understand how some reviewers are so "grossed out" by this movie. They obviously have never been involved in child raising :)

The "gross out scenes" go well with the plot. Afterall, Frank IS a pretty disgusting person which is exactly what the movie is trying to convey. The movie touches on health and human physiology in a fun way that will encourage kids to learn more. It is also based around family members caring for each other. Whenever one of our kids is home sick from school this is a good movie to pop in to pass some of the fevered time.

As far as the vomit goes (pun intended) what do you think would happen if you unwittingly ate polluted oysters??!!

The major plot of the movie has the "buddies against all odds" theme ... but the underlying plot is about a person who needs to straighten up and take care of himself.

So "Osmosis Jones" is fun, funny, and educational to some degree.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that Peter and Bobby Farrelly, the men behind the outrageous "There's Something About Mary," helmed the directorial department of "Osmosis Jones," a surprisingly funny combination of animation and live action. I am somewhat stunned by their willingness to do a project that reaches nowhere near the R rating, and also by the fact that their most innocent film is also their funniest yet.

The movie takes us into the body of Frank (Bill Murray), a repulsive zoo worker whose daughter constantly nags him about improving his health. A shot of Frank consuming a soiled hard-boiled egg takes us into the insides of his body, a densely populated city made up of the citizen cells who drive cars, walk, talk, and take on various other human characteristics.

As the rest of the story goes, a Red Death virus named Thrax (voiced by Laurence Fishburne) begins wreaking havoc in Frank's body, stirring the suspicion of white blood cell Osmosis Jones (Chris Rock). Teaming up with cold medicine particle Drix (David Hyde Pierce), Jones defies the law and the uncaring hand of the mayor to save Frank's life.

While it's not as intelligent or advanced as such animated features as "Toy Story" or "Shrek," "Osmosis Jones" comes up a success on the basis of its clean humor and back-to-basics animation. With the latest craze in computer animation, such films have become increasingly abundant. This film does have elements of computer animation, but not so much that the entire movie has the look and feel of it; in a sense, it returns to the roots of animation that have been absent from theaters for quite some time, and gives it a very funny appeal.

The screenwriters also conjure up a delectable deluge of comic one-liners and in-jokes to tickle the fancy. The film is rated PG for bodily humor, though I doubt much of it, with the exception of vomit and flatulence, was grounds for such a rating. The dialogue is kept clean and breezy, from variations on slang ("You're up a spit creek without a paddle!") to jokes made funnier by the setting (at one point, a police officer asks his buddy about his weekend plans, to which he replies, "Me and my girlfriend are going down to the Kidneys to see the Stones").

The voice talents bring lighthearted whimsy to this fantasy, featuring comics marvels Chris Rock and David Hyde Pierce as our heroes. Rock gives a better comedic performance under the restrictions of the MPAA rating, and Pierce brings back wonderful recollections of his role as the praying mantis in "A Bug's Life." As for the human side... so-so acting, but our interest has become geared more towards the animated scenes that human intrusion becomes dreary.

The overall effect of "Osmosis Jones" is somewhat reserved. There is no striking purpose (combining live action and animation is nothing new), and the movie seems a bit modest in its approach to the audience, as if it somehow anticipates failure. Yet, despite all of this, there are genuinely funny moments that recall the spirit of films which appeal to all age sets, and it's nothing more than a fun time-waster.

When I first heard of this movie, I thought: how neat, a fun and educational way for kids to learn about how the human body works. I'm glad I watched it first on my own, though, because I'm not sure I'd let any children of my acquaintance watch this. At least not the young ones.

I think the movie would have been better without any of the live action characters (Bill Murray, Chris Elliott, etc.) for two reasons. First of all, they're just disgusting. Too disgusting. It got to the point where I'd watch all of Bill Murray's scenes with my hands over my face, peeking between my fingers. Between the running snot, exploding pimples, and ingrown toenails, the "gross-out factor" just goes way, way over the top. To me, it stopped being amusing and became just repugnant early on. Like, his first scene.

Second, I think the final scenes, when Bill Murray ends up in the emergency room, are far too intense for younger viewers. He basically dies on the table in front of his young daughter (Elena Franklin), who's led away sobbing by nurses. He comes back from the brink of death, of course, and all ends well, but it's still pretty traumatic and graphic.

The animation sequences, however, are just wonderful. Bill Murray's character is the "City of Frank," complete with a police force (the white blood cells, featuring Chris Rock), a highway system, airport (Frank's stomach), and even a political campaign (with William Shatner as the incumbent mayor in "Cerebellum Hall" and Ron Howard as his challenger). The whole city system inside Frank was a really clever idea and very well executed. David Hyde Pierce is also wonderfully "uncool" and fussy as over-the-counter cold pill, Drix ("I was developed at the University of Chicago, where I graduated Phi Beta Capsule"). It's a whole new take on the "good cop, bad cop" movies.

All this having been said, I'm pretty sure I would watch thie movie again, but I'll be fast forwarding through the live action sequences. Just cartoon germs for me, thank you.

Osmosis Jones is a pretty cool movie that is composed of 1/3 Gross Out Comedy, 1/3 Satire and 1/3 Buddy action flick. And 2/3 are done well. Let's face it, the real life part stunk, but the rest of it more than makes up for it.
This is the story of a guy named Osmosis Jones, a white blood cell voiced by Chris Rock. He lives inside the body of Frank, a slobby zookeeper who's body is likened to a city: it has it's dump (guess where), power plant (heart), ghetto (liver), and even natural disasters (cramps and sicknesses.) So when Frank injests a hard boiled egg that has been in the mouth of a monkey and on the ground, it's bad news. Especially when the egg hosts the Red Death virus named Thrax (my favorite character), voiced superbly by a evilly suave and utterly unrecognizable Laurence Fishburne. Thrax wants to kill Frank in record time (48 hours) by damaging his hypothermis gland and heating Frank up like "A sidewalk on a summer day..." Thrax snickers.
To help Osmosis fight Thrax, enter the by-the-book and not particularly bright cherry-flavored cold pill Drix (David Hyde Peirce)who wants to prove his worth by curing Frank.
The In-Jokes, such as taking you're girlfriend down to the kidneys to see the stones and an armpit being a sauna for gangsters make it funny. The live-action parts are disgusting with vomit jokes and require fast forwarding. And the action scenes near the end, involving car chases and fistfights, are just cool. It's a little violent within the body; Thrax's sicle-like index finger is used for slicing apart those unfortunate cells that stand in his way and for setting fire to his surroundings. Lots of pyromania. Rock, Peirce, and especially Fishburne lend excellent voice talent to this movie. But not for the squeamish.

Whenever our kids are sick we watch this film to spark discussion as to what is going on inside the body.

As already stated here, if toilet humour upsets you, use caution with real young ones.

The Fishers
Duke, Sharon, Bud(98) and Grif(00)

I have a B.S. in germs (microbiology) and the first time we went over the body's response to offending viruses and ESPECIALLY the role of white blood cells, I thought, "Wow -- what a story! Someone oughta write a book.." Well, the Farelly brothers brought these unsung heroes [a bit inaccurately] to film and did a really good job. Some of the characterizations of, say, the digestive cleanup after eating the egg, and the "scientists" in the hypothalamus had me thinking, "Yeah, that's how I pictured it too..." My kids (5 - 7 yrs) and I have watched it several times over (although I can't handle it around any meal time or first thing in the morning) and I STILL keep seeing details I missed during previous runs. This is a VERY CLEVER movie (and how often do we get to say that?), very rich depth of detail and very funny, with a strong message about the harm done to your body and your loved ones when you mismanage your health.
If I were a biology teacher, I'd show this to the class and use it for a one question final -- "Give 3 examples where the movie does or does not accurately reflect reality."