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Osmosis Jones
***
Cinema
Releases - November 2, 2001
Rated on a 4-star scale. Certificate PG. 95
minutes. Directed by Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly. Written by Marc Hyman.
Starring Bill Murray, Elena Frankin, Chris Elliot; with the voices of Chris
Rock, Laurence Fishburne, David Hyde Pierce, Brandy Norwood, William
Shatner.
"Osmosis Jones" has the kind of
premise that starts out as a joke in conversation and escalates until the
speakers realise, hey, it's actually a great idea!
The film stars Bill Murray as Frank, a zoo-keeper
whose daughter (Elene Frankin) is constantly urging him to take better care
of himself. He tells her that he's taking her advice, but doesn't seem to
be -- in the opening scene he eats an egg that he dropped on the floor of
a monkey cage and wrestled out of an animal's mouth. As soon as Frank eats
the egg, we cut to the inside of his body, which is depicted as a hyperactive
cartoon where cells and chemicals make up a society that carries out bodily
functions in the way that humans go about their jobs.
The inhabitants of Frank include a mayor, who
resides in Cerebellum Hall, and plenty of trusty workers all over the body,
but the hero of the picture works for the police department, whose job it
is to track down viruses and the like. Chris Rock provides the voice of Osmosis
Jones, a chancy cop who follows a hunch that the bad egg has given Frank
more than a common cold. Together with a painkiller capsule called Drix (David
Hyde Pierce), Jones discovers that the Red Death (Laurence Fishburne) has
invaded the body, is destroying cells and vessels all over the shop, and
is going to try and to kill Frank by overheating his hypothalamus
gland.
It sounds technical, and yes, there are plenty
of biological terms dropped here and there; but they're put into humorous
contexts, and the cartoon world is not only used for scientific puns, but
for great visual imagination and social satire. The live-action moments work
as well; Murray is still one of the funniest screen actors around, even when
he's hardly moving, thanks to subtleties of body language and those inherently
goofy eyes. Frankin is wonderful as his daughter -- sweet, intelligent and
sympathetic, she allows the movie to proceed smoothly; we're not stuck watching
some out-of-her-depth kid trying awkwardly to perform.
Rock and Pierce give high-energy voice-over
performances and their relationship has echoes of Woody and Buzz from the
"Toy Story" movies. On the whole, though, "Osmosis Jones" is truly original.
This is the kind of premise you'd expect to be filmed as a five-minute
educational video, if at all. But this feature is 95 minutes and never drags.
It's a crazy piece of work, but also exhilarating and completely
accessible.
COPYRIGHT©
2001 Ian Waldron-Mantgani
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