Get ready for phenomenal fun, spectacular adventures, and nonstop action as hilarious megastar Jackie Chan (SHANGHAI NOON, SHANGHAI KNIGHTS) dares to do what no one has done before ? beat the clock in a race around the wor... more »ld. Traveling the globe by land, sea, air, and even in-line skates, Chan and his buddies are greeted with impossible obstacles at every planned and unplanned stop along the way, making their fantastically speedy voyage more frantic and heart-pounding than ever! Filled with amazing stunts, humor, and the importance of friendship and following your dreams, AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS is one trip the whole family will enjoy taking together.« less
wiredweird | Earth, or somewhere nearby | 08/14/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)
"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"
Jules Verne turned every which way but loose!
Kurt A. Johnson | North-Central Illinois, USA | 02/28/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"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!
"
Just great.
Charan | 07/04/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"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."
"Not even shoes can help us now."
José Fernandez | Ashburn, VA | 08/17/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"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."
Charming tale...
perfecto | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | 02/13/2006
(3 out of 5 stars)
"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."