Around the World in 80 Days Review
by Homer Yen (homer_yen AT yahoo DOT com)June 30th, 2004
"Around the World in 80 Days" – A Grand Tour by Homer Yen
(c) 2004
Here is a film that is certainly not getting the business that it deserves. It is lively, it is colorful, and it is a great alternative versus baking in the hot summer sun. Buoyed by Jackie Chan's effervescence, "Around the World in 80 Days" is a fun adventure.
Based on the Jules Verne turn-of-the-20th century classic, it tells the story of an uptight yet clever if not crackpot inventor, Phileas Fogg (Steve Coogan) who has accepted a grand challenge never before accomplished. Egged on by the stodgy and pompous Lord Kelvin (Jim Broadbent) and other stuffy colleagues within the scientific community, a unique wager is made. If Fogg can circumnavigate the globe in a mere 80 days, Lord Kelvin will cede his position to him. However, if Fogg should fail, he is never to invent again. Fogg believes that he has made a mistake to hastily accept such a bet and projects a general sense of perpetual befuddlement that gives his character a quiet but amusing personality.
Wisely, the straight man Fogg is moved off-center and the focus is put on his valet, Passepartout (Jackie Chan), who injects more than enough fun into the film. In fact, this is probably one of Chan's best forays into Hollywood given his limited English and acting skills. His irrepressible antics are a joy to watch. Meanwhile, his martial arts sequences are always more performance art rather than brute force. At 50 years of age, Chan moves faster than most 30 year-olds.
Our athletic hero is actually on a mission to return a stolen artifact to his home village in China. He poses as a valet to team up with Fogg, who can provide him with the fastest method back home given the fact that the British police and an evil Chinese warlord (Karen Mok) and her forces are pursuing him. This guarantees two things. There will be a fair amount of engaging battles as Chan squares off with his pursuers. Also, there is ample opportunity for these fight sequences to occur in different venues around the globe.
Off they go, aided greatly by some outstanding animated transitions as they journey from one country to the next. The locations that they arrive are picture-perfect postcards that should bolster everyone's desire to travel abroad. They go by horse and buggy, by Orient Express, by steamship, and by some crazy flying contraption whose creation can only come from the resourceful mind of Fogg's. Along the way, they meet new friends, such as Monique (Cecile De France) who provides Phileas with a love interest. And they have brushes with famous celebrities, such as Toulouse-Lautrec, The Wright Brothers, and Queen Victoria.
The film is beautiful to look at. With all that it wants to cram on to the screen, the drawback is that many of the scenes seem cluttered. With all of the henchmen running around, with all of the citizens walking around, and with the throngs of people cheering them on, it can become visually overwhelming. Additionally, the film lacks any substantive amount of drama. In the end, we don't really much care if Fogg wins his bet or not or if Lord Kelvin gets what he deserves or not.
Yet, it's a lighthearted romp that gets more mileage out of it than one would think. The film gleefully evokes the spirit of Buster Keaton, the Keystone Cops, and the Blue Man Group. "Around the World in 80 Days" is just goofy, clean fun.
Grade: B
S: 1 out of 3
L: 0 out of 3
V: 1 out of 3
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