Osmosis Jones facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Osmosis Jones |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Bobby Farrelly Peter Farrelly Piet Kroon (animation director) Tom Sito (animation director) |
| Produced by | Dennis Edwards Bobby Farrelly Peter Farrelly Zak Penn Bradley Thomas |
| Written by | Marc Hyman |
| Starring | Chris Rock (voice) Laurence Fishburne (voice) David Hyde Pierce (voice) Brandy Norwood (voice) William Shatner (voice) Molly Shannon Chris Elliott and Bill Murray |
| Music by | Randy Edelman |
| Cinematography | Mark Irwin |
| Editing by | Lois Freeman-Fox Stephen Schaffer Sam Seig |
| Studio | Warner Bros. Feature Animation Conundrum Entertainment |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| Release date(s) | August 7, 2001 (Grauman's Egyptian Theatre) August 10, 2001 (United States) |
| Running time | 95 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $70 million |
| Money made | $14 million |
Osmosis Jones is a 2001 American live-action/animated buddy cop comedy film directed by the Farrelly brothers with animated scenes directed by Piet Kroon and Tom Sito. Starring the voices of Chris Rock, Laurence Fishburne, David Hyde Pierce, Brandy Norwood and William Shatner alongside live actors Bill Murray, Molly Shannon and Chris Elliott, the film centers on Frank DeTorre (Murray), a slovenly zookeeper; the live-action scenes are set outside Frank's body while the animated scenes are set inside his body, which is portrayed as a city inhabited by anthropomorphic parameciums. In the animated sequences, white blood cell cop Osmosis "Ozzy" Jones and cold pill Drix attempt to prevent deadly virus Thrax from killing Frank within forty-eight hours.
Produced by Warner Bros. Feature Animation and the Farrelly brothers' Conundrum Entertainment, Osmosis Jones premiered at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre on August 7, 2001 before being released in general theaters three days later on August 10, 2001. The film was met with mixed-to-positive reviews from critics, who praised the animated scenes, the voice cast (particularly Rock's, Pierce's and Fishburne's) and plot, but criticized the live-action portions and the overuse of gross-out humor. The film was also a box-office bomb, earning $14 million against a budget of $70 million, though it later sold well in home media. A spin-off animated television series titled Ozzy & Drix later ran on Kids' WB from 2002 to 2004, in which the titular characters suddenly get removed and exiled by a mosquito that transfers them to the body of a teenage boy named Hector Cruz and continue their battle against germs and viruses from in it as Private investigators. In addition, all episodes use scenes from its movie counterpart.
Contents
Plot
Frank DeTorre is an unkempt and slovenly zookeeper at the Sucat Memorial Zoo in Rhode Island. Depressed by the loss of his wife years earlier, he copes by overeating and refusing to exercise, much to the annoyance of his young daughter Shane. Inside his body, or "The City of Frank" as known by its anthropromorphized inhabitants, white blood cell Osmosis "Ozzy" Jones is an over-zealous officer of the Frank Police Department, the city's center for immune responses against bodily threats, who was demoted to patrol duty in the mouth after he induced Frank to vomit against orders. This incident became the town laughingstock, and got Frank fired from his previous job at a city pea soup factory, and was banned from visiting Shane's school due to a restraining order filed by her P.E. and her science teacher, Mrs. Boyd.
Two years later, facing a serious challenge to his reelection prospects, Mayor Phlegmming doubles down on his junk food policies, ignoring their effect on Frank's health. This causes Frank to eat a boiled egg covered in filth, allowing Thrax, a deadly virus known as "The Red Death", to enter the throat. Unwilling to admit responsibility, Phlegmming instructs Frank to take a cold pill through brain signals. The pill, Drixenol "Drix" Koldreliff, proceeds to disinfect the throat, covering up any evidence of Thrax's arrival. To his displeasure, Ozzy is subsequently assigned to assist the stoic and straight-laced Drix in his investigation. Meanwhile, Thrax assumes leadership of a gang of sweat germs and launches an attack on the mucus dam in Frank's nose, nearly killing Drix before Ozzy rescues him.
The two pay a visit to Chill, a flu vaccine and one of Ozzy's informants, who directs them to Thrax's hideout in a germ-ridden nightclub in a large zit on Frank's forehead. Ozzy goes undercover and infiltrates Thrax's gang, where he learns that Thrax, wanting to be known as the most dangerous virus in medical history, intends to masquerade as a common cold while, using his knowledge of DNA, killing Frank in a record forty-eight hours. When Ozzy is discovered, Drix comes to his aid, resulting in a massive brawl that culminates in Ozzy destroying the zit using a grenade from Drix. Its destruction causes it to land on Mrs. Boyd's lip during a meeting with her and Frank, ruining any chance for him to apologize. In response, Phlegmming closes the investigation, has Ozzy fired from the force, and orders Drix to leave after reminding him that his services are only temporary.
Unbeknownst to the duo, Thrax has survived the zit's destruction and, after killing his remaining henchmen, launches a lone assault on the hypothalamus, where he steals a crucial nucleotide. He then abducts Phlegmming's secretary, Leah Estrogen, and flees to the mouth to escape. His actions disable the body's ability to regulate temperature and a dangerous fever develops, causing mass panic to erupt in the city. As Frank is taken to the hospital, Ozzy, having discovered Thrax's survival, convinces a dejected Drix not to leave, and the two catch up to Thrax and rescue Leah. However, Thrax uses pollen to induce Frank to sneeze and blow him out of the mouth onto Shane's eye. Drix shoots Ozzy out of the mouth after Thrax, where they land on Shane's cornea and a fight between them breaks out. As they end up on one of Shane's false eyelashes, Thrax appears to gain the upper hand and threatens to make Shane his next victim, but Ozzy, having outsmarted Thrax by tricking him into getting his hand embedded in the lash, escapes just as Shane's lash falls off her face at the last minute and into a beaker of rubbing alcohol, where Thrax dissolves.
As Frank's temperature goes over 108 degrees, he goes into cardiac arrest. Riding one of Shane's tears as she mourns, Ozzy falls back into Frank's mouth with the stolen nucleotide, reviving him just in time. Ozzy is reinstated into the police force as he begins a relationship with Leah, and Drix stays as Ozzy's new partner. Having narrowly cheated death, Frank commits himself to living a healthier lifestyle, which results in Phlegmming being impeached from office and his opponent Tom Colonic winning by a landslide in the election. Phlegmming is reduced to janitorial duty in the bowels and is accidentally ejected from Frank's body when he triggers his flatulence.
Cast
Live-action
- Bill Murray as Frank DeTorre; the animated scenes of the film take place inside his body, which is referred to by its inhabitants as "The City of Frank"
- Elena Franklin as Shane DeTorre, Frank's 10-year-old daughter
- Molly Shannon as Mrs. Boyd, Shane's science and P.E. teacher
- Chris Elliott as Bob DeTorre, Frank's brother and Shane's uncle
Voice cast
- Chris Rock as Osmosis "Ozzy" Jones, an overzealous white blood cell with little respect for authority
- Laurence Fishburne as Thrax, an extremely virulent pathogenic agent
- David Hyde Pierce as Drixenol "Drix" Koldreliff, a stoic cold pill who becomes Ozzy's best friend and partner
- Brandy as Leah Estrogen, Mayor Phlegmming's secretary and Ozzy's love interest
- William Shatner as Mayor Phlegmming, the self-centered and corrupt mayor of the "City of Frank"
- Ron Howard as Tom Colonic, Phlegmming's rival for the mayoralty of the "City of Frank"
- Joel Silver (uncredited) as the police chief, Ozzy's boss
- Steve Susskind as Mob Germ Boss
- Carlos Alazraqui as Spanish Germ
- Antonio Fargas as Chill, a flu vaccine and Ozzy's informant
- Rodger Bumpass as Announcer for Nerve News Network / Joe Cramp
- Paul Christie as Dan Matter / Germ
- Richard Steven Horvitz as Male Red Blood Cell
- Kid Rock as Kidney Rock
- Joe C. as Kidney Rock (Released Posthumously)
- Herschel Sparber as Bruiser
- Eddie Barth as Conductor
- Robert Wisdom as Big Germ
- Danny Mann as Musician Cell
- Paul Pape as Male Red Blood Cell #2
- Al Rodrigo as the Frank Police Department walkie talkie
- Doug Stone as a police officer with a big germ / Jamie, a police officer of Frank Police Department who broke his neck, arm, and leg due to Germ #2
- Anne Lockhart as Female Red Blood Cell
- Jonathan Adams as Tom, a police officer of Frank Police Department who broke his arm just like Jamie
- Sherry Lynn as Trudy McCartney, a news reporter for Nerve News Network who works with Dan Matter
- Chris Phillips as Doug, a firefighter who is a close friend of Ozzy
- Donald Fullilove as Doughnut
- Rif Hutton as Charlie, one of Thrax's minions
- Mickie McGowan as a Librarian
- Eddie Frierson as a police officer of Frank Police Department
- "Stuttering" John Melendez as Artie (a nod to former fellow Howard Stern Show alum Artie Lange).
See also
In Spanish: Osmosis Jones para niños
