Customer Reviews

Around the World in 80 Days (Full Screen Edition)

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(24)

 

 

This isn't quite the story you remember. It's been updated to add Monique (lovely Cécile De France) added as romantic interest and occasional damsel in distress, to include Jackie Chan as Fogg's valet, and to give plenty of opportunity for Chan's incredible clowning.

The plot winds its way around the world, one step ahead of the bad guys. It's a basically light movie, and the light tone is reinforced by the amusing animated interludes that skip over the tedium of travel. Fogg is shown as an over-intellectual bumbler, saved (whether he knows it or not) by Passepartout (Chan). Mostly, though, the movie is a vehicle for Chan's brilliant physical humor. If you've never seen him - well, you have no idea just how funny martial arts can be made.

It's a safe kind of movie, with bloodless fights, chaste romance, and people keeping their clothes on. There's no great purpose here, just good fun. Hey, it works for me.

//wiredweird

Lau Xing (played by Jackie Chan) is on the run from the London police, and he finds a hiding place in the home of Phileas Fogg (Steve Coogan), an eccentric inventor whom he quickly convinces that he's French! When Fogg accepts a challenge to prove that he can indeed go around the world in 80 days, he packs up Lau Xing and sets out. But, there's schemes afoot, and schemes within schemes. Can Fogg and Lau Xing make it back to England within the 80 days? Overcoming many villains and obstacles, there's nothing that can stop them!

OK, I must admit that I can easily see why this is such a controversial movie. The makers of this movie took the original Jules Verne story, and turned it every which way but loose! With wacky inventions, karate fight scenes, humorous chases, and goofy humor, this is not a movie to be taken seriously. Indeed, if you start out watching this movie by suspending your disbelief far away, you will come to enjoy its crazy, off-beat humor.

My children, who are not fans of serious drama, loved this movie, as did I. It's a good, family-friendly movie that you can watch when you want to unwind and shift your brain into neutral. My family and I highly recommend this movie to you and your family!

Eight of us (my family) went to the movies. We split up, half saw Spiderman and the other half 80 days. On returning home, guess who did all the talking and raving. The Jackie Chan group. We all loved this movie. The Spiderman group sat silently. It was exactly more of the same for them.

This Chan movie is different from his last two which were bad. This movie is smart, intelligent and very funny. It is much better than most of his recent efforts, except the two "Shangai" movies. No profanities, inanties, trivilaties, just plain grand humorous fun.

The pace of the movie is never too fast nor is it slow. It moves at a superb entertaining pace. In fact as the trip progresses, I kept groaning knowing that each destination meant the movie would be ending soon.

The french girl "de france" is suberb. She is made out neither stupid nor cheap, which is how most movies of this nature deal with female charaters. She is painted with a light hand and I give 5 five stars just for rendering a female charater that is so attractive, interesting and arresting. She grabs you and you keep waiting for the closeups so you can see the little gap between her teeth.

The villaness is done equally well too. Not overacted, no funny accent, she is great to watch. You also watch for her to appear just to see her hairdo and the eye makeup. The cameos by big names, Arnold, John Clease, Owen are icing on the cake. The scene with Arnold was a hoot and Owen brothers don't disappoint. I laughed like crazy in both of these pieces.

Steve Coogan sad to say steals the scene from Jackie. But I think that is what makes this such a super movie. As Jackie is growing older, intelligently he is making movies that character rich rather than keep making fight movies. All four main character are done with aplomb.

The fight teams are as good as ever, although some fight scenes are not as fresh. Scenes in China were visually stunning and the Chinese villagers believable and appealing. The landscape scenes are lovely, rich and special effects by Micha Klein are impressive.

I will defintely add this movie to my DVD collection when it comes out. If you are looking for a really entertaining, a very laugh out loud funny, visually rich, appealing movie in the tradition of the grand old movies, go see this one. Don't miss it.

This movie opened and closed in cinemas faster than you can say "Around The World In Eighty Days", but now, after watching it...I'm beginning to wonder why. Of course the story is nothing to shout about, but I found many aspects of this movie entertaining.

The story is about Lao Xing, a chinese guy posing as a Frenchman (don't ask...) who steals a Jade Buddha from the Bank Of England. You see, the statue rightfully belongs to his village. The fastest way to get back to China is apparently partnering with a crazy inventor and convincing him to make a bet with the Royal Academy of Sciences to go around the world in 80 days. If he does it, he'll be the new Science Minister. Along the way, they learn the meaning of friendship and the inventor even falls in love with a french girl. And the ride to the rather predictable end is unexpectedly fun.

The purpose of this movie is for the audience to have some fun, to entertain...and thankfully the director, Frank Coraci (of Waterboy and Wedding Singer fame) knows that and doesn't lose himself in an overacted, overzealous movie. The cast are a joy to watch. Steve Coogan and Cecille de France had a pretty tall order to fill, especially with the likes of Jackie Chan and Jim Broadbent around but they perform wonderfully. They made a rather dorky albeit cute couple. Jackie Chan, as usual is a hoot to watch...with his trademark martial arts moves and Jim Broadbent as Lord Kelvin, the baddie gives an admirable performance (in his Professor from Narnia mode). The whole "going around the world" also fascinated me. I think these guys actually filmed around the world, and it was really nice seeing the different cultures and places around the world, from U.K right to France, India, China, and various parts of the U.S.

Another thing I LOVED about this movie was the superb cameos. The who's who of comedy are here. Watch out for them...each gives an all out "laugh out loud" moments. They include Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rob Schneider, Sammo Hung, Luke & Owen Wilson, Will Forte, Kathy Bates, John Cleese, Mark Addy, Richard Branson, and even Macy Gray. How they got all these people was beyond me. I half expected Vince Vaughn to pop up as some cruel but actually "soft hearted" pimp in the movie. These people definitely upped the level of crazy fun in the movie, and I for one...am totally FOR that!

In short, this a light hearted movie great for family gatherings, or to pop in when you're among some friends and just want to chill out and have some laughs. It's also great after a hard day's work or 5 hours of classes. Although it has it's fair share of misses, there's surely more hits than misses and I liked it! Recommended folks.

Great movie. Best movie of the summer, in my opinion. Humor, action, humor, adventure, humor, romance, humor, pointless cameos, humor, Jackie Chan, humor, and, at long last, a recognition of the wonder of footware.

SEE IT.

Quentin Choulet

This book is appropriate for 4th graders or 10 year old children.

Phileas Fogg bets the Royal Academy of Science
with all of his inventions. Can he make it around the world in 80 days, or shall he and destroy all of his inventions? Passepartout robs the Jade Buddha and takes refuge in Phileas's mansion. Inspector Fix tries to stop Phileas and his new friend so Phileas will lose the bet. Fix also does a lot of funny things. But Passepartout is so sly that he stops inspector Fix.
I give 5 stars to this book because it was outstanding how Phileas traveled around the world in 80 days with so much obstacles on his way. For example: When Phileas almost died because he was stuck in a cage and one of Fang's agent almost slashed his neck. Then Passepartout started a battle. Phileas helped him at a moment but Passepartout still got hurt. I will recommend this book to people who like funny adventures. In this book there is a lot of running, fighting, and action. It was funny!

Thank goodness Disney did not allow this film to be "adultized" like we have seen with other re-makes such as Dr. Doolittle and The Nutty Proffesor. With all due respect to the two other re-makes I have mentioned (they are funny for adults) there is little or no "adult" humor in this remake of a classic film. There are stars-a-plenty in this film...of course Jackie Chan who has become a regular english speaking star (far from his Cannon Ball Run appearance) Arnold Swartzanegger, Owen Wilson, John Cleese, Rob Schnieder and even a cameo by ballon affectionado Richard Branson. The story is about an inventor who bets his entire lot in life on the fact that he can travel around the world in 80 days. The scenery in the film is spectacular, especially the scenes in China, no doubt due to the Chan influence on this film. Arnold's scene is the olny "uncomfortable" episode that might confuse children, it should have been left on the cutting room floor. When I was a kid and I went to matinee's to see film's of this sort I remember the laughs and wonders being from locations and personalities, not bodily functions and sexual situations, Disney made sure this films follows that creed. "Despite" the fact that I am 40 years old and favor Farrely's Bro's humor I found this film a barrel full of laughs and thrills. Jackie Chan's kung-fu moves, wit and humor really shine. You should feel safe showing this film to your entire family, no matter who is in the room, even your mother. Too bad Eddie Murphy did not take that into account when he re-made the famous films he copied even if they were box-office hits. I would much rather have my kids sit through this wonderful film than either of the two re-makes I metioned before. This was matinee movies as I remember it in the late 60's and early 70's. Clean, exciting, funny. It's a hit, too bad being clean seems to have fallen out of style.

My goodness with all the talk from the reviewers, both in Amazon and in the press, you'd think they were reviewing 'Cleopatra' or 'Gone with the Wind' .... lighten up it's a 'Disney' movie after all ....


OK so the concept of the film and the title were taken from the Jules Verne novel, and those of us that are longer in the tooth try to remeniss seeing the original 1956 classic with David Niven as Philleas Fogg and Cantinflas playing Paspatu, well, this movie rates about the same as being light entertainment. The original I think was more geared to the adults while this remake probably is aimed at a much younger audience.


Also the use of cameos is fabulous with Schwarzenegger, Branson and a host of others is absolutely hilarious.


Lighten up and I know you'll enjoy this film ....

I did not see "Around the World in 80 Days" in theaters. Even though I am a big Jackie Chan fan the previews I saw looked VERY unpromising?! What WAS Jackie Chan doing in a movie like this?! A loose remake of Jules Verns classic book that was modified to include Chinese warlords, hooky inventions, and the Govenator sporting one of the silliest wigs ever seen by man? Was this supposed to be a serious movie or a joke? If it was a joke then I had to laugh, because this "joke" was costing Disney over $100 million to make. Now the movie is on DVD, and I had the opportunity to see it and find out whether or not the movie was what I was expecting it to be. It's not. I have to admit that "Around the World in 80 Days" is a much better film then the previews lead you to believe it is.

The story (generally) goes in the same direction as the book did, but with lots of various twists. Jackie Chan plays Passport Two (not joking) who is a wanted criminal for robbing a bank in England. However what he stole was not money, but a statue that was stolen from his village, and now he must bring it back. Unfortunately for Passport Two, he is now a wanted criminal, and the British guards are looking for him on every street they can. By pure luck Passport Two is taken under the wing of Phileas Fogg, who is a crazy inventor who believes that technology can move man forward in evolution. Everyone, of course, things he is crazy, which is why Fogg has no financial support of The Academy of Science and Arts. Conveniently, very shortly after Passport Two becomes Fogg's right hand man, Fogg makes a bet with the Academy that if he could go around the world in 80 days, that he would become the new head of the Academy.

The downside of this though is that if Fogg loses the race he must never invent another thing ever again. At first Fogg regrets making the bet, but Passport Two encourages him to go on the race and follow his dream. However Passport Two is not suggesting this because he has taken a liking to Fogg, he's simply helping him because he wants to use this race to get the statue he stole back from the bank back into China as fast as he can. Once the race starts the movie starts to resemble the Jules Vern novel less and less, as strange character shows up after strange character, along with TONS of celebrity cameos from a bunch of Hollywood stars that I'll let you spot for yourself, as spotting the cameos is one of the best things about this movie (and is also a nod to the original "Around the World in 80 Days," which featured tons of Hollywood cameos too).

If you are someone who has read Jules Verns novel and loved it to death for years, then you have two options with this movie: You can either hate it for not being a "faithfully" true adaptation of the book, or you can look at the changes to the story with an open mind. One of the biggest complaints Disney's previous $100+ million dollar flop "Treasure Planet" had was that it wasn't true to the novel by setting the story in space. My response was "so?" If Disney had made "Treasure Planet" just another version of "Treasure Island" except animated, then there would be very little to the movie that would separate it from all the other "Treasure Island" movies. By placing the story in space, the directors made the movie stand out.

The same situation applies here. There is already a classic "Around the World in 80 Days" movie, and Disney knew there would be no way to make a movie that would even compare to the classic. So since you can't compete, why not go in a different direction? By making the movie more of a fantasy comedy this version of "Around the World in 80 Days" makes itself a true original from the classic, and for people who may not be open to the changes the classic still remains for them. And what an imagination this movie has. There may not be much magic or powers, but the mere "ideas" this movie presents are very clever! After seeing the Arnold scene in the actual movie I can understand why Disney put this in the movie: The scene is hilarious on various different levels. Unfortunately the clip they chose to put in the movie just looks silly, and it might have been better for people to discover this excellent joke for themselves instead of turning them off with an incomplete joke in the previews.

Another thing that should be noted is that this movie is not as family friendly as Disney would like you to think it is. Kids will like the bright colors this movie presents, and I'm sure they'll get a kick out of watch Jackie Chan kick butt (no pun intended), but the overall story and sense of humor is far more mature then your average family film provides, and I actually suspect that kids just won't flat out "get" most of the jokes presented here. The in-jokes for this movie are not satires of other Hollywood movies, but are instead satires of history and historical figures, most of which the 6 to 10 year old crowd won't be familiar with (or at the very least, not know ENOUGH about to get the jokes). The back of the box also forgets to mention the sexual innuendo's that are contained within this movie, making this PG rated film one of the more "adult" PG rated movies to come out in awhile.

So will this movie find an audience now that it is on DVD? Most likely not. Disney is still giving us the impression that this is a kids movie, and after 30 days the movie will most likely be put back into the Disney vault, never to come out again (Disney doesn't treat their flops with much respect). One can only hope that word of mouth will get out and people will give this movie a chance. But if they don't then I won't blame them. How are they supposed to know there is a perfectly fine and clever comedy hidden in this film with a cover like that?

Really loved this movie. It was fast paced action and had comedy throughout the story. I would recommend it for all ages. It was one of our favorites this summer.