Feature-length animated cartoons haven't been doing well at the box office lately. Sure, Shrek has managed to make $250 million or so, but what of the others-- Atlantis ($80 million), Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within ($32 million). In its opening weekend, Osmosis Jones made $5 million. So, it's obviously a flop commercially, but onto the more important question: is Osmosis Jones a good movie?

Bill Murray works at a zoo and eats a dirty, monkey-spit covered egg. Inside his body, white blood cell Chris Rock and cold pill David Hyde-Pierce ignore orders from mayor William Shatner and investigate a deadly virus attack. Will Bill Murray survive?

At first, I really didn't like Osmosis Jones. The humor was OK, I got a kick out of seeing the slug lines like "Stomach. 9:32 PM.". As it went along, it grew on me.

From the previews, I enjoyed the art style of the animation. It's very lively, none of the characters have noses, and the cold capsule looks like a boss out of Mega Man. A lot of the jokes are what's written on signs in the background, as the main plot of the movie basically boils down to an animated Lethal Weapon with a heart-warming message.

All of the acting is well done, from the voices to the live-action bits by Bill Murray and others. I liked the animated parts better and some of the cuts from live-action to animation were either jarring or plain stupid.

The live-action parts were directed by the same directors who did There's Something About Mary and Dumb & Dumber. Their directing works most of the time, but there are a few continuity errors and they have a fondness to over-use CG as they did in Me, Myself, and Irene. Why make a booger CG when you can use a real booger or make a really gross prosthetic booger?

Some of the lines are overly cheesy, I could have lived without most of the music, and the villain is little more than your standard gloating "I want to take over the world" type. Osmosis Jones is certainly more creative and entertaining than, say, Disney's Atlantis.

I give Osmosis Jones *** out of ****.

This movie rules. I really don't have to say much more than that, but I guess I should back that claim up, a little. Osmosis Jones is basically a spoof on buddy cop movies, but with a cartoon setting that's inside an ill man's body. Most of the jokes were funny, which is rare in movies, now a days, and I happened to be quite entertained by it. Once again, there isn't much more to say, so I'll just give my rating.

***1/2 out of ****