Movies

Bill Murray’s Forgotten Animated Comedy Is About To Leave Tubi

Tubi’s catalog of free streaming titles is about to lose the animated Bill Murray comedy everyone forgot about. The underdog streamer is getting ready to grow its animated movie lineup in April with the arrival of films like Ice Age: The Meltdown and both DreamWorks’ The Croods and Home. At the same time, the streamer is doing a bit of housekeeping, with several titles now on the chopping block and set to leave soon.

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Sandwiched between his portrayal of Bosley in Charlie’s Angels in 2000 and the iconic 2023 movie Lost in Translation, Murray starred in a live-action/animated buddy cop action comedy mashup. That movie is Osmosis Jones, and it’s landed an unfavorable spot on Tubi’s “leaving soon” list. If the 2001 movie has been out of sight and out of mind and you need a refresher, Osmosis Jones stars Murray as Frank DeTorre, a widowed zookeeper with poor hygiene and dietary habits whose body serves as the bustling, animated “City of Frank.” When Frank contracts Thrax, the animated white blood cell cop Osmosis Jones fights the deadly virus.

Osmosis Jones Is an Underrated Gem in Bill Murray’s Filmography

When people think of Murray, they typically think of movies like Groundhog Day, Ghostbusters, Lost in Translation, and Rushmore. Osmosis Jones, meanwhile, remains an underrated gem in his filmography that is definitely worth revisiting. Although the film’s rotten 55% critic score and 42% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes put it far from the top of Murray’s highest-rated movies, it’s one of those films that is regarded better today than its initial, largely negative critical and commercial reception and one that you won’t regret giving a second shot.

Osmosis Jones is now considered a cult classic, and while the live-action elements of the film are still pretty weak overall, the animated world inside of Frank is a brilliant, imaginative piece of animation that holds up remarkably well. The movie excels at clever body-centric gags and creative world-building, reimagining biological functions as urban locales, such as the stomach functioning as an airport and the armpit as a mafia hangout, and personifying things like white blood cells as police officers and viruses as criminals. Laurence Fishburne portrays a menacingly good villain in Thrax, whose presence leads to plenty of intense, stylized fights with Osmosis Jones. It’s the type of movie that is just as fun for adults as it is for kids, and the vibrant, cartoony 2D aesthetic is pretty fun to watch.

Where to Stream Osmosis Jones After It Leaves Tubi?

Osmosis Jones’ time on Tubi is nearing its end, but that doesn’t mean the film will be impossible to stream, even for free. The movie is currently included in the free streaming catalogs of other services like Sling TV, Plex, and The Roku Channel, with paid renting and purchasing options also available online. While the movie will be absent from any major streaming platforms like Netflix or HBO Max, it is possible it will reappear in the coming months.

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