Osmosis Jones

Tom Sito, Piet Kroon and the Farrelly brothers directed a hybrid comedy in 2001 known as Osmosis Jones. Starring Chris Rock, Laurence Fishburne, David Hyde Pierce, Brandy Norwood, William Shatner, Molly Shannon, Chris Elliott, and Bill Murray, the film was a massive box office bomb. Of the $70 million it cost, the film only grossed $13.5. It did, however, get a television show called Ozzy & Drix from 2002 until 2004.

Osmosis Jones (Rock) is a white blood cell inside the body of Frank (Murray). He’s paired up with Drix (Pierce), a cold pill to fight what they believe to be a common cold. Instead, they find Thrax (Fishburne), a virus intent on killing Frank.

This movie is all over the place. It’s got a fun story, but it’s just so full of mostly bad puns and lame jokes centering on the weirdness of the human body that it really takes you out of the story. Some jokes are actually pretty funny (like finding a good lawyer in the hemorrhoids), a couple are clever (like a cell dividing by himself) but the rest are just bad and painful.

The music also dates this movie pretty hard, since its mainly early late 90s, early 2000s rap and hip hop. It makes sense for the movie, but they really could have chosen other songs or maybe earlier selections that would have withstood being forgotten by the sands of time.

As for the live action parts, Bill Murray is hilarious as always and he actually does well in  regards to the secondary plot. Chris Elliot as his brother is also pretty good. But despite it being acted so well, the secondary plot feels to much like a sledgehammer to the face about the merits of living well and eating right.

It’s not a terrible movie, but it’s not great either.  

Doesn't pass the Edge of Satisfaction and becomes #4 for Comedy. 

Monsters Inc

Pixar released another film in 2001, this time centering around a world of monsters. Starring John Goodman, Billy Crystal, Mary Gibbs, Steve Buscemi, James Coburn, and Jennifer Tilly, the film made over $560 million. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, which also won a Grammy. It was also given a prequel in 2013.

James P Sullivan (Goodman) and Mike Wazowski (Crystal) work for Monsters Incorporated, a company that produces energy from the screams of children. Life is great for them until a child (Gibbs) enters their world and threatens everything. Now they must get her back before their work and entire lives are destroyed.

Monsters who scare kids because it’s simply their job is such a fun concept and this film takes it and runs with it. Some, like Mike and Sully, really don’t want to hurt them, just do their jobs. Others, like Randall, find a sadistic pleasure in doing so. And those like Waternoose just want to find some way to keep the energy from disappearing.

Pixar’s animation also only keeps getting better with every film they put out. For this one, they individually animated every hair on Sully’s body and the textures on other monsters really stands out. Also, It would have been so easy to just have the film be in the Monsters Incorporated building, but Pixar designed an entire world for them. And it’s so unique and creative, looking like a lighter version of Lovecraft. 

The humor and drama is also perfectly intertwined, with the monster's reactions and terror of a small child joined by Boo's childlike wonder and happiness. 

#8

Atlantis: The Lost Empire

In 2001, Disney produced a film about the lost continent of Atlantis. Starring Michael J. Fox, James Garner, Cree Summer, John Mahoney, Jim Varney, Corey Burton, and Leonard Nimoy, Atlantis: The Lost Empire had a script treatment by Joss Whedon and Hellboy creator Mike Mignola was the production designer. It did moderately well at the box office, but not well enough causing the cancellation of a spinoff television series and attraction at Disneyland.

Milo Thatch (Fox), a young linguist, has uncovered evidence of the lost civilization of Atlantis. But when his peers reject his proposed expedition, he’s offered a chance to prove himself by the billionaire Mr. Whitmore (Mahoney).

A team led by Commander Rourke (Garner) sets out to find the civilization and finds a dying society that has forgotten their written language.

This is quite a fun adventure movie that boils down to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea meets Indiana Jones. And it does well in providing massive action, reeling the viewer in, going bigger, reeling the viewer in again and getting even bigger after that. Where Disney didn’t break The Emperor’s New Groove out of the standard road trip comedy formula, they were able to take an adventure movie spice it up with good humor and not focusing on a love story.

Yes, the romantic subplot is there, but it doesn’t overshadow the main story and Milo and Kida never do more than hug. It’s also not exactly love at first site. The two are initially interested because he’s from the outside world and she’s about 8,000 years old and still looks like a young woman.

The rest of the cast is great. Garner is able to pull off an expedition commander with secrets well and everyone else has their own stories. Vinny, the demolition’s expert, might be the best though. Don Novello ad-libbed all his lines. Not one thing he says was in the original script.

The music is good too. It’s not a musical, but the soundtrack provides great atmosphere.

It’s far from Disney’s best, but it’s up there.

#16