Osmosis Jones (2001)
5/10
Gorgeous animation undermined by out-of-place live action gross-out humour.
7 September 2020
This film's an odd beast: the story for the animated sequences for the most part works really well, but the live-action sequences that unfortunately push the story forward undermine the animation's reluctant superiority to the film's A-plot. Bill Murray is not the quirky charmer you see in Ghostbusters or Groundhog Day, but instead a really dense zookeeper whose sense of hygiene would make even lax germaphobes shriek in terror. And Bill Murray's immunity system is voiced by Chris Rock: a white-blood-cell cop that's all about the one-liners and proving he's not just a laughing stock joke.

This film's... an interesting story in box office flops from the 2000s: this film went through development hell because there wasn't a story realised through the live-action sequences when they started production: Bill Murray was kind of attached as an afterthought. This film really shines with the animated sequences and sinks with the Farley Brothers-directed live sequences with Murray. The two styles just don't mesh together at all. There's a good half of a film here undermines by another that doesn't feel like a natural companion for a cop-centric story.

It's watchable and competently made, but the whole live-action/animation mixing is a far-cry from seamless and can be distracting in an involuntary way. It's an extravagant experience of 'aesthetic turbulence' from Hollywood.
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