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As AOL/WARNER Fires Tons of WB Animation Folks, They deliver another winner in OSMOSIS JONES!!!
Hey folks, Harry here with our first look at OSMOSIS JONES from a test screening that took place last Saturday. Apparently the AOL/TIME/WARNER Lay-Off joys have just hit Warner Animation at the same time... Lots of folks being let go... Which is of course the best thing you can do for a company... let go of a lot of quality perfect at their job types just because some bean counter somewhere said... "If we downsize the company by 15%, we'll show that much more profit!" Oh joy. Never mind interupting the entire process of work, the relationships that remaining employees had... Creating an air of company-disloyalty... Ahhh... it is all good right? Sure it is.... SIGH... Anyway, M.G. below checked out the latest from Warner Animation and seems to like it at a level comparable to IRON GIANT and TOY STORY 2.... but at the same time has character problems with the main character played by Chris Rock... Now, how can the film be perfect if ya have problems with your main character? WELL... Apparently the film is funny as can be, PG-13 and visually dynamic as hell! Now let's see if Warner Brothers markets the thing.... Afterall... you did see the trailer this Holiday season didn't you? Oh... That's right.... THEY DIDN'T CUT ONE. Oh... Goody. Ugh...
Osmosis Jones Thoughts
Well Harry, I caught a test screening of the soon-to-be-released Warner Bros. flick "Osmosis Jones" on Saturday night. Although not all of the animation was completely finished, I would say it ranks up with "Toy Story 2" and The "Iron Giant" as one of my favorite animated movies ever.
While it’s not all animated, its not Roger Rabbit and Monkeybone style either. The movie follows two storylines: That of Bill Murray’s live action character, Frank, and that of the separate animated world inside Frank’s body.
Murray lives up to his comic godliness in this role, as a single father trying to raise his preteenage daughter, and doing a pretty poor job of it. His eating habits are disgusting. After wrestling with a monkey for an egg in a memorable sequence, the more important of the two stories begins. See, the story of Frank and his daughter and their antics is only a catalyst to the animated one.
This egg, which Frank eventually ends up getting from the monkey and eating, happens to contain a virus called the "Red Death." And this is where we first get introduced to the City of Frank. You see, the premise of the flick is that Chris Rock voices a while blood cell in the CFPD (City of Frank Police Department). He’s had a rough life up to this point on the force, and has been assigned to welcome a flu pill to the city (one which Frank has just swallowed). I won’t spoil the story, but let me tell you a little about the movie itself.
First off, the animation is great. They did a wonderful job bringing the city of Frank to life. The voice acting is equally strong. Various supporting roles by Will Shatner, David Hyde Pierce, Laurence Fishburne, and even Brandy as Lea, the Mayor’s secretary, all do their jobs well. Chris Rock voices the title character. Rock gives his normal performance and schtick, although I wondered why there was no "Man, why they always gotta be white blood cells" joke. Oh yeah.
The strongest thing the flick has going for it is the humor. Countless jokes that are puns based on parts of the body, totally Simpsons style humor. But alas, Rock’s character, sorta sucks. He’s just this wisecracking guy who really isn’t funny. The subtle, smart, sophisticated humor expressed throughout the rest of the movie is countered with Rock’s one-liners on the order of "Now that’s what I call Osmosis!"
The third act is a little long and tedious, and the final battle with the villain, as of the version I saw Saturday, was a little unclear as to what was going on. But afterwards, I actually thought a lot about it, and what’s inside my body and all that.
The only thing I worry about is how they’ll market it. People, this is the same studio that doomed "The Iron Giant" before it came out. Targeting this at the same audience as The Emperor’s New Groove is not the answer. It’s rated PG-13, and the Farrely Brother’s, who’ve built a reputation on gross-out films, didn’t let us down (last time it was a cow that wouldn’t die, this time it’s a monkey playing with himself). The live action supporting characters of Molly Shannon and Chris Elliot certainly aren’t PG friendly. But as we learned from Titan A.E., animated movies don’t market well to teenagers. But I want this flick to succeed! Any thoughts?
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This flick can be cool. Bill Murray is a king.
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What is wrong with this studio? I remember the good old day when they would market those violent Clint Eastwood movies without any worry as to what people would deem offensive! Think about what is considered acceptable today and compare it to what we had twenty years ago. It's pretty sad. Why have we gone soft in the last decade or so? Can anybody tell me where we went wrong?
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There is, among other things,a Kid Rock song. So here's what you do: aim the "Simpsons" style humor at the "Simpsons" audience (i.e. funny trailers on TV shows with similar types of humor.)
Make an animated video for the Kid Rock song, and plug the holy hell out of it. Toss in some Chris Rock and you've got the MTV crowd. Use some of the live-action stuff and pull in the gross-out crowd.
Do I think Warners will do this? No, I think they'll fuck up incredibly, you know, like they did with "Iron Giant." -
Jan 30, 2001 8:32:40 AM CST
Wait? You say the third act is tedious and the Chris Rock chara
by lenny nero
Something seems wrong with this picture.
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I wouldn't get *too* pissed about those layoffs. They weren't done do increase profit so much as bow to government rules. AOL/TW had to drop a lot of people in order to have their merger. Looks like WB Animation is one of the casualties, along with Entertaindom.com (not that that's really a lose there). God forbid they hit DC Comics. You can thank the American government, in particular those politicians in the early 20th century, for this one. And as far as the marketing goes, they should market the live-action part more and hype the hell out of the fact it's Farrelly Bros.
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Sounds like this movie's going to be great but as a side note to this AOL/Time Warner merger, it seems that AOL doesn't want to be in retail so they'll be closing down all WB Studio Stores this year. I found this out after visiting my local store and the manager gave me the news. Pisser man! I love getting all my production cels and gallery art from there.
Just thought I'd pass this along.
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Anybody know if Jean McCurdy got let go from WB Animation?
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The Adam Sandler animated project, "Whitey & Davey", will be cooler, funnier, better...
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Aim the commercials more on the Frank part than the cartoon part. Put dirty words in the trailers and advertise it on shows like THe Simpsons, King of the Hill, and every show on Comedy Central. Keep it the hell away from Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network.
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I saw a screening of Osmosis Jones as well. And i don't agree that it was the best movie. I DID think Murray was hillarious, but his daughter! Oh God, I can't believe that out of all the kids they probably saw they picked her. She is one of the worst actresses I have ever seen! Now I know she's a kid but that is no excuse. There are a billion young girls I've seen better than this. Anyway that's all i have to say.
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there's a show about the microbes and other organisms that live on our body at a site www.fatchance.tv and the show is Life on Fred. It's very amusing, sounds much better than Osmosis Jones, it's kinda disgusting eg. one of the characters are the bumfluff - cool!
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