Finally saw Osmosis Jones...

[The Mad Hatter]

I got into Little Rock early for a sneak preview of Jay & Silent Bob Strike back (I'll be putting up a review of that in the AniGen board), and thought I'd kill some time with Osmosis Jones, since the flick is well into the process of vanishing without a trace.

First, the bad... the credits gave full "directed by" credit... not just "live action directed by"... to the Farrelly brothers. Argh! It's not their movie! They were just hired hands brought in to do the live action after the animation was well under way!

Ah well. I don't mind the Farrellys, but their stuff in this flick (about 1/3 of the screen time) seemed pretty uninspired. It was almost as if that they knew they were just in it for a buck, and it translated onto the screen.

The animated segments fared much, much better. The story within Frank was reasonably good, and the voices worked much better than I thought they would, even Chris Rock. David Hyde Pierce was wonderful as Drix, though I also got a kick out of William Shatner as the Mayor of Frank. Dialogue was much, much crisper than in Space Jam (not that it would take much to outclass Space Jam), and there were tons of great sight gags thrown in. The animation itself was fun to watch, as there was a lot of mileage gained out of the malleable natures of most of the characters.

So, as I expected, the movie was much, much better than the horrible ads Warner Brothers threw together. It's worth at least a rental.

[Craig Crumpton]

I thought it was okay too - I'd rate it a little above mediocre at least. The live-action segments were kinda dull - thru every one of them, I just kept hoping they'd get back to the animated scenes as quickly as possible. I blame its failure not just on the Farrelly Bros, but on a weak script, really poor editing and a very unimpressive voice cast.

Whoever directed Shatner was an idiot to let him do his own thing. Shatner's comedy stuff is usually really funny, but Shatner tries to hard to act when he's using only his voice, and he overacts more than usual in OJ. I lost some of his dialog because of his particular style of the dramatic pause and his poor manner of phrasing.

I can't stand Chris Rock, and his performance in this movie made me like him even less. That flashback scene he narrates early in the movie has got to be one of the most boring narrations I've ever heard an actor give in a movie - I think I may have even dozed off during it. Chris Rock is NOT a voice actor. They should have tried to get Chris Tucker (Rush Hour, Money Talks) for the role - it might have improved the movie's performance at the B.O. somewhat.

David Hyde Pierce's performance is fair, but it's about what you'd expect from him if you've seen him on Frasier. (He was much funnier as the walking stick in "A Bug's Life".) And the Pierce/Rock duo is a horrible match up - their characters have no "chemistry". Even in the scenes where they're supposed to be "bonding" fall flat. They're just saying their lines to each other.

I think Laurence Fishbourne is a great actor and he has a cool voice, but the voice director was an idiot to make his character sound so stereotypical. Thrax looks cool, but the performance tries to be too hip (which is what other reviewers have said about the whole movie, and I agree). The only line I liked from him was when he sang, "Fiiiiiiii-yuh!"

Don't get me started on Brandy. She has a sexy quality to her voice, but she's not a voice actor. I thought she was wrong for the role as well. I'd much rather have heard someone like Jada Pinkett Smith or Halle Berry.

Oddly enough, my favorite voice performance in the entire movie is from Ron Howard, and he has dialog in only one scene in the whole movie, and it's not even really "on camera" because it was a political ad shown on TV.

But I really enjoyed the animation - I thought they did a fine job of meshing the 2D with the 3D animation. Drix's animation was reminiscent of the Iron Giant in a number of ways. And the backgrounds were very impressive.

It really is one of the worst voice casts for an animated film that I can remember. If it hadn't been for the animation, I wouldn't even rate it a 1 out of 10.

There are too many slow spots and not enough comedy - compounded with a weak script, poor editing, and an unimpressive voice cast - but overall I still thought it was fair. I liked it a lot more than "The Tigger Movie" anyway, and it's a heckuva lot better than watching any of the Pokemon movies.

I also thought it was a very creative concept that just wasn't developed thoroughly enough. It's been done before in such movies as "Innerspace" (and the movie it was spoofing --) and "Fantastic Voyage", but to have a whole active civilization inside the human body was a very clever concept, I thought. That's where most of the humor is too - I'm sure medical students and those in the profession will find it hilarious. And there are enough hidden gags in the movie to merit more than one viewing, but like Hatter, I recommend a DVD/video rental, or go watch it at the dollar theater. It's not worth $7, I'm sorry to say.

Hatter, did you catch the Clint Howard cameo, and the veiled Pokemon reference with a large bit of double-meaning? Those were my favorite "hidden" gags in the movie.

[Craig Marinaro]

Wow. I never thought I could disagree with Gookie so totally.

As I said in my previous review, I thought the voices were quite strong. I respect Gookie's expertise in the field, but I know what I like personally, and, next to the animation, Pierce's performance was my favorite part of the movie. Then again, I also like him on Frasier.

Thought Shatner was fine too--I think his delivery worked well (for me, anyway) because the animation complimented his overly dramatic style. The animated character onscreen was constantly boucing around and making frantic gestures that backed up the overemphasis Shatner put on the lines vocally. I found it amusing anyway.

Definitely agree about Howard, though. Wish he'd gotten more screentime--his delivery on "That's the smell of change, Billy" was dead-on. One of the funniest scenes in the film, easy.

Both Rock and Fishburne were too "hip"-sounding for my tastes. I didn't think they were attrocious, but they were well below the other VAs, IMO.

It's light, summer fun. Nothing very memorable, but I thought it was well above mediocre. Personally. ;)

-C

[sun]

I raised a question about this flick a little while ago, then I see that you discussed it earlier...sorry

[James Harvey]

I guess this means we won't be getting a nice fully loaded DVD outta this. I would've really like this movie to make at least $50. Now it may not even make a quarter of that.

[The Mad Hatter]

Mmm, I'll stand by my (way too brief) thoughts on the voice actors... I thought Rock did okay, even though the part could have been cast better. But considering that I thought he was going to totally flub it, I wasn't disappointed. Shatner's over-acting, I thought, fit the part. His character was overblown, so his hammy delivery worked for me. And yes, Howard did a great job, and I was saddened to find that he was just in the commercial.

Somehow I managed to miss the Pokemon reference, though I did notice that they slipped in a logo for "Gonad's Gym"...

[sun]

Originally posted by Gookie
I thought it was okay too - I'd rate it a little above mediocre at least. The live-action segments were kinda dull - thru every one of them, I just kept hoping they'd get back to the animated scenes as quickly as possible. I blame its failure not just on the Farrelly Bros, but on a weak script, really poor editing and a very unimpressive voice cast.

Whoever directed Shatner was an idiot to let him do his own thing. Shatner's comedy stuff is usually really funny, but Shatner tries to hard to act when he's using only his voice, and he overacts more than usual in OJ. I lost some of his dialog because of his particular style of the dramatic pause and his poor manner of phrasing.

I can't stand Chris Rock, and his performance in this movie made me like him even less. That flashback scene he narrates early in the movie has got to be one of the most boring narrations I've ever heard an actor give in a movie - I think I may have even dozed off during it. Chris Rock is NOT a voice actor. They should have tried to get Chris Tucker (Rush Hour, Money Talks) for the role - it might have improved the movie's performance at the B.O. somewhat.

David Hyde Pierce's performance is fair, but it's about what you'd expect from him if you've seen him on Frasier. (He was much funnier as the walking stick in "A Bug's Life".) And the Pierce/Rock duo is a horrible match up - their characters have no "chemistry". Even in the scenes where they're supposed to be "bonding" fall flat. They're just saying their lines to each other.

I think Laurence Fishbourne is a great actor and he has a cool voice, but the voice director was an idiot to make his character sound so stereotypical. Thrax looks cool, but the performance tries to be too hip (which is what other reviewers have said about the whole movie, and I agree). The only line I liked from him was when he sang, "Fiiiiiiii-yuh!"

Don't get me started on Brandy. She has a sexy quality to her voice, but she's not a voice actor. I thought she was wrong for the role as well. I'd much rather have heard someone like Jada Pinkett Smith or Halle Berry.

Oddly enough, my favorite voice performance in the entire movie is from Ron Howard, and he has dialog in only one scene in the whole movie, and it's not even really "on camera" because it was a political ad shown on TV.

But I really enjoyed the animation - I thought they did a fine job of meshing the 2D with the 3D animation. Drix's animation was reminiscent of the Iron Giant in a number of ways. And the backgrounds were very impressive.

It really is one of the worst voice casts for an animated film that I can remember. If it hadn't been for the animation, I wouldn't even rate it a 1 out of 10.

There are too many slow spots and not enough comedy - compounded with a weak script, poor editing, and an unimpressive voice cast - but overall I still thought it was fair. I liked it a lot more than "The Tigger Movie" anyway, and it's a heckuva lot better than watching any of the Pokemon movies.

I also thought it was a very creative concept that just wasn't developed thoroughly enough. It's been done before in such movies as "Innerspace" (and the movie it was spoofing --) and "Fantastic Voyage", but to have a whole active civilization inside the human body was a very clever concept, I thought. That's where most of the humor is too - I'm sure medical students and those in the profession will find it hilarious. And there are enough hidden gags in the movie to merit more than one viewing, but like Hatter, I recommend a DVD/video rental, or go watch it at the dollar theater. It's not worth $7, I'm sorry to say.

Hatter, did you catch the Clint Howard cameo, and the veiled Pokemon reference with a large bit of double-meaning? Those were my favorite "hidden" gags in the movie.

Disagreement, this is a good film. Are we going to pay for full length animation, whatever type? If we don't, for a good or even fair film, well, guess what, there won't be any full length ,full film animation...(except for Disney and ,maybe Speilberg) . Don Bluth started it with the "Secret of NIMH" (1983 or 4) It was a good, to very good film, that made little.. Then Speilberg took over the financing and marketing of his next film, "Land Before Time, and competition was created... A big hit followed with "An American Tail." A tremendous serge in the release of full length animation from several studios developed..Many were excellent. Some weren't...But at least we had a choice...That choice will in the end, rest with Speilberg, Disney, and Pokeman, if we do not support movies like Osmosis Jones. As Dick Grayson said, it will probably not even get to DVD. Eventually, the other studios won't finance other full length animation of any kind. (That may already have taken place, with losses brought about from Titan AE. Final Fantasy, and now Osmosis JOnes.) Please note, no one finances 7 minute animated shorts for the theater anymore.

[clark kent]

This movie had yuck all over it, i'm waiting for the shrek dvd. And bring on Shrek 2.

[Craig Crumpton]

oldtoonguy wrote:
----------------------------
> Disagreement, this is a good film.

I didn't say it sucked. But I didn't think it was that good either. I'd rate it as "decent" or "fair". I thought the animation, background and character designs were very good, and I really enjoyed those hidden gags I found the first time around. Otherwise, I was most unimpressed by the voice cast, in addition to the other negative comments I made earlier.

------------------------------------
Are we going to pay for full length animation, whatever type? If we don't, for a good or even fair film, well, guess what, there won't be any full length ,full film animation...(except for Disney and ,maybe Speilberg) .
-----------------------------------

We do, but the movie-going public doesn't seem to. Is Osmosis Jones worth paying $7 to see (or $14 if you paid for your brother as well)? Not in my opinion. Is it worth matinee price? Yeah, maybe. But I'd recommend the dollar theater or wait til it comes out on video/DVD.

Will I buy it on DVD? If they include ample extras, you betcha!


-------------------------------
That choice will in the end, rest with Speilberg, Disney, and Pokeman, if we do not support movies like Osmosis Jones.
----------

Even if I really enjoyed it, the only ones supporting it are animation fans like us, and we're sorely in the minority. But I just didn't like it enough to recommend it in any other way than those I described above.


------------------------------
As Dick Grayson said, it will probably not even get to DVD.
-----------------

Oh, it'll make it onto DVD - I think you can count on that - WB will at least try to recoup some of their losses thru DVD sales. Even as poorly as Iron Giant and Batman:MOTP performed at the B.O., they were released on DVD. But I wouldn't expect much in the way of additional features for the OJ DVD. I think they'll probably include that promo that was shown at last year's San Diego con and a few other things.


---------------------------
Eventually, the other studios won't finance other full length animation of any kind. (That may already have taken place, with losses brought about from Titan AE. Final Fantasy, and now Osmosis JOnes.)
----------------------

Don't forget Atlantis, which I actually did enjoy very much, despite the many plotholes and lack of character development. I liked Titan A.E. too. Still haven't seen Final Fantasy. I decided not to after everyone said it was hype, visually impressive, but lacked substance. But I'll definitely pick it up on DVD.

OJ just had too many things going wrong for me to rate it any higher.

[Craig Crumpton]

Originally posted by The Mad Hatter
[B]Mmm, I'll stand by my (way too brief) thoughts on the voice actors... I thought Rock did okay, even though the part could have been cast better. But considering that I thought he was going to totally flub it, I wasn't disappointed.]/b]

It's just a personal thing - my tolerance for Rock is barely a few rungs on the ladder above the likes of Keanu Reaves, Adam Sandler and Pauly Shore.

--------------
Shatner's over-acting, I thought, fit the part. His character was overblown, so his hammy delivery worked for me.
-------------------

I agree too - my complaint is that his delivery is hit and miss. Some of his lines were muddled and I didn't catch them at all. And I didin't mean to imply that he wasn't funny - he's just been much funnier in other movies/TV shows. (And I did enjoy his "exit" from the movie - very appropoooo.) As for his voice acting, I just think he tries way too hard. If you want to know just how hard he tries, here's a quote from Bill Kopp (Eek the Cat, Mad Jack the Pirate), "Mr. Shatner has us on the floor when he comes in to record because he REALLY wants to make his character exceptional. He literally gets red in the face trying to give us the best character voice he can muster. It's incredible to watch."


----------------
And yes, Howard did a great job, and I was saddened to find that he was just in the commercial.
-------------------

And how. I never would have thought he'd give such a great performance in what's really nothing more than a cameo. That "smell of change" line got the biggest laugh during the movie from me too.


-------------------------
Somehow I managed to miss the Pokemon reference, though I did notice that they slipped in a logo for "Gonad's Gym"
------------

Yeah, that one was choice. Too bad that sperm scene didn't make it in - the way it was described, it might have been one of the funniest scenes in the movie.

The Poke-ref takes place in the scene where Drix is headed to the kidneys after the mayor tells him to "get out of his body" - in the waiting line to exit the body, there's a kid holding a Pikachu plushie.

But the REAL joke is the key placement of this gag in the movie. Think about it ... I'll come back later to see if anyone else figures it out because I'm nearly certain the double-meaning was intentional.

For any anti-Pokemon types out there, it might very well be worth the price of the movie to catch the real meaning behind this gag.

[Craig Crumpton]

Craig M writed:
--------------------------------
Wow. I never thought I could disagree with Gookie so totally.

It happens sometimes. I may have come off more jaded because I went into the movie really wanting to like it in spite of my disdain for Chris Rock, and had higher expectations because of the very entertaining promo that was shown at last year's SD con.


-------------------
As I said in my previous review, I thought the voices were quite strong. I respect Gookie's expertise in the field, but I know what I like personally, and, next to the animation, Pierce's performance was my favorite part of the movie. Then again, I also like him on Frasier.
----------------

Sorry, I didn't make my opinion on Pierce clear. Other than Ron Howard, Pierce's performance is the best in the movie. I enjoy him on Frasier as well. But it was the interaction between Rock and Pierce where it fell flat, and he was a lot funnier in "Bug's Life". Loved the CG for his character though.


--------
Thought Shatner was fine too--I think his delivery worked well (for me, anyway) because the animation complimented his overly dramatic style. The animated character onscreen was constantly boucing around and making frantic gestures that backed up the overemphasis Shatner put on the lines vocally. I found it amusing anyway.
------------

Already commented on this above. I didn't hate his performance, and I did find his character amusing. But I really don't think he got good voice direction on account of some of the muddled lines.


--------------
Definitely agree about Howard, though. Wish he'd gotten more screentime--his delivery on "That's the smell of change, Billy" was dead-on. One of the funniest scenes in the film, easy.
--------

Couldn't have said it better.


---------------
Both Rock and Fishburne were too "hip"-sounding for my tastes. I didn't think they were attrocious, but they were well below the other VAs, IMO.
-------

I was actually more disappointed with Fishbourne than Rock. I've seen many of his films and always enjoy his performances, and I blame the poor voice direction he was given for my not liking him in OJ. It's an even greater shame because Thrax was a very cool-looking character. I really wanted to like him, but the performance dragged it down. And I feel bad saying that about Fishbourne too, because he's such a great actor.


-----------
It's light, summer fun. Nothing very memorable, but I thought it was well above mediocre. Personally.
-------------

I may very well find it more enjoyable after it comes out on DVD - the hidden gags alone make it worth watching for animation fans (particularly those of us who still support WB, in spite of our grievances.)

[Added]

I never mentioned I didn't care for the music either. Oy.

[The Mad Hatter]

NOW I remember the Pikachu placement. Heh. Interesting fate for that electric yellow rat...

I wasn't too fond of the music as a whole, either. Not only was the hip-hop pretty generic for the genere, but it didn't really fit the tone of the movie. At the very least, they didn't subject us to R. Kelly, who befouled Space Jam ("I Believe I Can Fly") and Batman and Robin ("Gotham City," one of the worst songs ever written).

So what did everyone think of the Kid Rock/Short Dead Guy cameo? It seemed, of course, utterly gratuidous, though it wasn't nearly as annoying as I thought it would be. Plus they gave him decent animation.

[Craig Marinaro]

So what did everyone think of the Kid Rock/Short Dead Guy cameo?

I got a giggle out of it when I saw in the end credits that his song was called the "Kidney Rock," a silly double pun on his name and the term "kidney stone."

Re: The Pikachu bit

I suppose it could be referring to the fact that WB, in its unquenchable thirst for success, filled itself up with a lot more Pokemon than was probably healthy. But now that the show has run its course, the time will soon be at hand to either let it go gently, or risk massive physical damage.

Or something to that effect.

-C

[sun]

Originally posted by Gookie


It's just a personal thing - my tolerance for Rock is barely a few rungs on the ladder above the likes of Keanu Reaves, Adam Sandler and Pauly Shore.

--------------
Shatner's over-acting, I thought, fit the part. His character was overblown, so his hammy delivery worked for me.
-------------------

I agree too - my complaint is that his delivery is hit and miss. Some of his lines were muddled and I didn't catch them at all. And I didin't mean to imply that he wasn't funny - he's just been much funnier in other movies/TV shows. (And I did enjoy his "exit" from the movie - very appropoooo.) As for his voice acting, I just think he tries way too hard. If you want to know just how hard he tries, here's a quote from Bill Kopp (Eek the Cat, Mad Jack the Pirate), "Mr. Shatner has us on the floor when he comes in to record because he REALLY wants to make his character exceptional. He literally gets red in the face trying to give us the best character voice he can muster. It's incredible to watch."


----------------
And yes, Howard did a great job, and I was saddened to find that he was just in the commercial.
-------------------

And how. I never would have thought he'd give such a great performance in what's really nothing more than a cameo. That "smell of change" line got the biggest laugh during the movie from me too.


-------------------------
Somehow I managed to miss the Pokemon reference, though I did notice that they slipped in a logo for "Gonad's Gym"
------------

Yeah, that one was choice. Too bad that sperm scene didn't make it in - the way it was described, it might have been one of the funniest scenes in the movie.

The Poke-ref takes place in the scene where Drix is headed to the kidneys after the mayor tells him to "get out of his body" - in the waiting line to exit the body, there's a kid holding a Pikachu plushie.

But the REAL joke is the key placement of this gag in the movie. Think about it ... I'll come back later to see if anyone else figures it out because I'm nearly certain the double-meaning was intentional.

For any anti-Pokemon types out there, it might very well be worth the price of the movie to catch the real meaning behind this gag.

I respect and amire the thoughtand time that you put into this reply....Actually, that is what this board is all about .Exchange of ideas ..You made some very good points....oldtoonguy