Mixing live action with animation, buddy cop comedy with political satire, the Farrelly Brothers try their hand at a family film. Their gross-out sensibilities are intact ... as is their uneven approach to storytelling. Frank (Murray) is a serious slob who will eat virtually anything, which makes his pre-teen daughter (Franklin) worry. Jump to animation and we're inside his body, aka The City of Frank, where a white blood cell named Jones (voiced by Rock) teams up with a cold capsule (Pierce) to battle a deadly virus called, erm, Thrax (Fishburne). Meanwhile, the Mayor of Frank (Shatner) is denying all danger in his effort to secure re-election.

The script has just enough clever joke to keep us chuckling, even if it never scales the heights of classic comedy. Yes, much of it centres in the toilet--vomit, snot, pimples, sweat, wind, urine. But there's intelligent stuff as well ... and it's densely packed. Scarcely a second passes without a visual or verbal pun. The animation is terrific--original and vibrant, with thrilling action and sharply witty design. On the other hand, the live-action segments let the film down badly--Murray's character is far too slovenly, his daughter too preachy, and his best friend too vile (Elliot as virtually the same long-haired slob he played Scary Movie 2 and Snow Day). You wish it had switched to animation and never cut back outside the body at all!

vulgarity, animated violence

14.Oct.01