Review of Osmosis Jones (2001) by Forrest P — 16 Oct 2008

This is one of those movies I feel like is just a little underrated. It's not exactly either hilarious or genius, but it does deserve a little credit. The animation is fun and the voice actors are pretty cool.

Plus, this movie had one hell of a good villain. The villain, Thrax (voiced by Laurence Fishburne) is pretty evil. He relishes in his murders (via viral infections), boasts about them, sets personal records, and kills quickly and without mercy. He pretty much makes the film for me.

And our other two lead animated characters, Ozzy and Drix (voiced by Chris Rock and David Hyde Pierce respectively), are pretty fun to watch and seem to enjoy some good screen chemistry.

And I have to give props for this movie's creative premise and clever animation. It's one of those fun little movies.

What I'm not as pleased with are the live action scenes. Bill Murray properly played his part of a lazy father, but the scenes themselves seemed lazily put together and were not directed well.

The screenplay, meanwhile, wasn't anything really special. It relied a little heavily on puns in some areas and then didn't connect its purpose in others. But the story was cleverly done, and I have to give points for that.

I can see why this movie lost money at the boxoffice; it would not have been my first choice for a theatrical experience. I almost feel like the live action scenes could have been scrapped altogether.

All in all, though, it's not a bad effort. The animated scenes were directed well, but not a lot of effort was put into the live action scenes.

6/10.