And if you
wash your hair every day it'll be glossy just like mine
|
|
Clever mix
of real life and animation in which the body is depicted as a city,
with veins as motorways and a mayor in charge of the brain.
Nigel Bell
Frank (Murray)
is an out of condition zoo keeper who suddenly runs into trouble
when he eats a hard boiled egg which has been sucked by a chimpanzee
and allowed to roll around in some dirty straw.
A deadly virus
enters his system, at which point the film switches from real life
to animation and really comes alive.
|
Give me
24 hours and I'll clean up this city...err...body |
Our hero, Osmosis
Jones (Rock), is a white blood cell. Inside the "City of
Frank" white blood cells act as police officers.
Jones teams
up with a cold pill called Drix (excellently voiced by Frasier
star Hyde Pierce) to take on the evil virus Thrax (Fishburne) who's
out to beat his all time record for killing a human. He aims to
finish off Frank in 48 hours.
What you are
left with is a cartoon, buddy cum race against time movie. Quite
a combination.
Some vivid imagination
has gone into this. The stomach is visualised as an airport complete
with Hare Krishna cells, the bladder is a ferry service while the
Mafia run the arm pit!
There's even
a news service - NNN (Nerve Network News) - to keep different parts
of the body up to date with what's happening.
|
Who you
gonna call? |
Despite all
this Osmosis Jones could well run into problems in terms
of audience. It could struggle to find its niche.
It's humour
will go over the heads of many youngsters who might be attracted
by the animation. It tries to be hip but will teens be convinced
by a cartoon and live action Bill Murray?
The fact that
the Farrelly brothers (of Me,
Myself and Irene fame) are on board could attract a crowd.
However, the live action they're in charge of isn't a patch on the
animation.
As Harry Potter
beckons, Osmosis Jones could well become a victim of He Who
Cannot Be Named. That would be a shame. There are some great one
liners in this film such as the two cops talking about what they're
going to do at the weekend.
"Me and
my girlfriend are going down to the kidneys to see the Stones."
|