Around the World in 80 Days | | Cast : | Jackie Chan, Steve Coogan, Jim Broadbent | | Director : | Frank Coraci | | Studio : | Buena Vista Home Vid | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen | | Released Date : | June 16, 2004 | | DVD Released Date : | November 02, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed) | | Audience Rating : | PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 30, 2005 | | Summary | starts dull but ends well | Content
 | I thought the movie was pretty good; it started slow-and dull-but ended up being an interestingly funny and adventurous movie.
Jackie Chan was the big name for this movie, but Steve Coogan and Cécile De France really brought it to life for me. I especially loved the childish romance that sprung up between Phileas Fogg and Monique La Roche.
Some adventure, some laughs and a little romance... |
| Rating | | | Date | July 20, 2005 | | Summary | Reason why it flopped | Content
| Answer is :Jackie Chan. The guy is good when it comes to Martial Arts, but he sucks as an actor. He isn't even funny, why do people put him in comedies? makes no sense to me.
I didnt see that movie, not planning to do so, did see otehr Jackie Chan movie, either they sucked or we're okay.
Rush Hour sucked too, second part was bit better suprisingly. Ususaly sequals suck, but this time it was improvement.
I think he should retire from movie business, you wanna see good martial arts movie check out UNLEASHED with Jet Li, suppose to come out on DVD in October. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 15, 2005 | | Summary | Say It Ain't So! | Content
| Jules Verne must be spinning in his grave. Let us pray that God diverted his attention when this abomination made it to the silver screen...
Verne: "Are they remaking my book in Hollywood again after all these ---"
God: "Jules, look at this! I'm creating a new fish species. What do you think?"
Problem:
The science is gone! The original film (and of course the book itself) focus on the science behind this expedition/bet. Here that has been replaced by Kung Fu power punches, an overly-drawn out love affair, and some ridiculous story about "the Jade Buddah" being returned to its rightful place in China. What the...!
The only possible benefit to this film (and this is going out on a limb here) is that kids seeing it might be interested enough to seek out the original Verne story. But once they crack open the pages, I think they'll be disappointed to find out that the fighting tigers aren't in it. Oh the pain! |
| Rating | | | Date | June 25, 2005 | | Summary | ...Only because zero stars is not an option | Content
| This is worst movie i have ever seen. NO talent was exhibited-the acting blew, the script was horrendous, the "humour" was not humorous, and it contained about every racial cliche in the book. top that with a predictable forced romance, ridiculously bad accents, and a scene in china that has abosolutly nothing to do with the story. i would not want to own this movie even if it was being given away free, which it will probably end up being, because it sucks. the only reason i saw it was because i was on an airplane and incredibly bored....although i regret it now and i would have been happier threading my hair into a loom and ripping it out of my skull as i weave a blanket for mutant, orphaned, third-world llamas. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 19, 2005 | | Summary | Astonishingly bad | Content
| Firstly, to ward off the common criticism of people who didn't like this film, I hold no special brief for expecting a faithful version of Verne's novel. In fact, the idea of adding Chan to the mix seemed a perfectly workable one. It's the end result that's the problem - too patronising for kids, too infantile for grownups.
Chan's a man famous for suffering for his art, but the pain in Around the World in 80 Days is all on the audience's side. It's rare to come across a $100m+ budgeted film that has virtually nothing going for it, but this appalling misfire comes very, very close. The reworked premise should have offered a workable framework, but in the hands of hack writers and an inept director more at home with Adam Sandler films, the result is just painful to watch - it has the look and feel of something a kid late with his homework assignment knocked off on the bus on the way to school. Not only that, but they barely even travel the world - aside from a couple of days shooting in Paris and a few days in Thailand doubling very unconvincingly for China, the film never leaves the backlot at Babelsburg. They don't even fall back on stock footage much, choosing to link the lame episodes by computer graphics that look like the kind of cheap Christmas decorations you get in dollar shops and which burn the house down if you leave them on too long.
Jackie Chan is wasted as usual by ignorant producers who seem too surprised that he's actually a physical comedian rather than a martial artist (no excrement, Sherlock!) to actually know what to do with him, but fares better than his costars, albeit largely by default. Steve Coogan, often so brilliant on TV, once again fails completely to transfer his abilities to the big screen with an extremely poor and overplayed Phileas Fogg; Cecile de France's uncharismatic heroine is a bit of a pain, to put it mildly; Jim Broadbent's villain is a masterclass in how to get a bad performance out of a good comic actor; Arnold Schwarzenegger in hideous make-up and costume is almost bad enough to make you glad he chucked in the acting for politics (almost); and worst of all, Ewan Bremner's Inspector Fix is the worst performance I've seen this century, a hideously unfunny gurning, shouting monstrosity that plays like a demented Regimental Sergeant Major with a cockney accent even Dick Van Dyke would be ashamed of. The cameos are no better - a far from star-studded bunch (a very unhealthy looking Sammo Hung, John Cleese proving once again he doesn't do funny any more, Kathy Bates flubbing the accent as Queen Vic, Luke and Owen Wilson wasted in both senses of the word as the Wright brothers), with only Rob Schneider raising a laugh. When the appearance of Rob Schneider actually raises the quality of a film for a minute, you know you're in serious trouble. The less said about Mark Addy's no-nippled sea dog the better.
Worse still, it all looks so cheap. You really cannot see where the money went, although the fact that the film is listed as an Anglo-Irish-German co-production makes you suspect a massive tax fiddle. Chan's stunt scenes seem lazy and under-rehearsed, the backlots never convince and Phil Meheux's photography in the first hour is quite dreadful (it looks like a 1970s Universal TV movie). That at least improves as the film progresses. Sadly, nothing else does. Rarely have the words 'The End' been so very, very welcome.
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