Oh well. Despite the fact that most people who’ve already reviewed this hated it, I have to admit that I rather enjoyed it! Not a modern classic but good fun all the same…

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While little about this film resembles the book apart from the title, the basic premise, and some of the characters, Around The World in 80 Days turns out to be one of the most entertaining films made in 2004.

Starring Steve Coogan, Jackie Chan, Cecile de France, and Jim Broadbent, this madcap caper runs at breakneck speed throughout. Along with the wager of Phileas Fogg (Coogan) that he can circumnavigate the world in just 80 days, we have the added factor of his being an inventor at odds with the Minister of Science (Broadbent). Added to which his French valet Passportu (Chan) is actually Chinese and on a secret and possibly sacred mission, the theft from the Bank of England is of an object not £55,000, and they pick up a frustrated, free-spirited artist from france (France… Cecile de, that is), and you have a plot full of twists and turns and that owes nearly nothing to the book. But unless you’re a purist of the classic Jules Verne original, this won’t worry you. The action comes thick and fast, there are plenty of laughs, and the special effects are impressively quirky, lending a slightly surreal feel to the movie.

Chan does his normal choreographed fight sequences and hammy acting, and this works most if not all of the time. The fight sequences seem a little run-of-the-mill though, and certainly weren’t on a par with those seen in Shanghai Noon / Knights. Chan does prove again that he’s made the transition from action movie to comedy rather well, and this film is certainly a lot better than The Tuxedo, which really did seem like it was just going through the motions with no inspiration at all. Coogan is a real revelation here, and the depth he gives his character is a bit of a shock given how different it is to his infamously acerbic and cynical Alan Partridge persona, and the relative weakness of The Parole Officer. He has surprisingly little comic acting to do but he handles the emotional scenes extremely well, I certainly hadn’t realised just what a good actor he is. Cecile de France has been in a number of French films and looked familiar, but I’m sure I haven’t seen any of her films. She did okay but there were some scenes where she seemed to be too amused considering what was happening around her… Jim Broadbent is, as always, excellent (surely he’s one of the most consistently brilliant actors of his generation?!?), and revels in his role as the evil Minister of Science. The equally excellent Kathy Burke makes a brief but memorable appearance as Queen Victoria.

The story is, as I’ve mentioned before, rather different to the original, but it doesn’t suffer for that. The storyline is a bit weak but it’s generally fast enough to overcome this, and there’s plenty of energy throughout. The quality of honour, which is highlighted in the original, is still the chief motivation of the main characters here. It’s not perfect, there are a few faults with the film that slightly annoyed, but they were really very minor in the big scheme of things. It’s not quite a 5-star movie, but it comes fairly close. It has given me a bit of a headache as to whether it deserves a place in my top ten films of 2004 or not… jury’s still out!

Around the World in 80 Days is fast, fun, funny, and on the whole something that the whole family can watch and enjoy. If you like Chan’s recent movies anyway you’re sure to enjoy this, if not you may enjoy it anyway.

If you liked Around the World in 80 Days, you may also like these other daft but fun films:

A Knights Tale (Heath Ledger, Paul Bettany, Rufus Sewell)
Pirates of the Caribbean (Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keirra Knightly)
King Ralph (Jon Goodman, Peter O’Toole

Jackie Chan, teamed up with Owen Wilson, also starred in: Shanghai Knights - another film I liked more than most people seemed to!

See Also:

The Classic Book by Jules Verne

The BBC Mini-Series starring Pierce Brosnan, Eric Idle, Peter Ustinov, and Julia Nickson


See also my Review of 2004 Movies.

CaptainD

http://www.darscom.net


Recommended:
Yes

Video Occasion: Good for Groups