#Jackie chan 80 days movie

It's light as a fly, but springs some genuinely funny moments, especially by Schwarzenegger, the Wilsons and the irrepressible Chan.

#Jackie chan 80 days movie

None of this amounts to anything more than goofy fun, but that's what the ads promise, and the movie delivers.

Oh, and before that, there's an extended martial-arts scene in the New York warehouse where the head of the Statue of Liberty provides a gigantic prop.

They generously share their ideas for an airplane, and that comes in handy in the mid-Atlantic, where Fogg's chartered steamer runs out of fuel and the intrepid circumnavigators invent an airplane and fly to London. Then it's across the Pacific and into the American desert, where the travelers encounter a couple of traveling bicycle salesmen, Wilbur and Orville Wright. When one location runs out of gags, the three move on to the next, including an extended stay in Passeportout's native China, where Fang and the Black Scorpions do all they can to win back the Jade Buddha from the grateful village where it has exerted its benign charm for centuries. The director, Frank Coraci, takes advantage of Verne's structure to avoid the need for any real continuity. Smitten by the fragrant Monique, he invites all three to join him in the Turkish equivalent of a hot tub, observing ruefully, 'I'm always embarrassing myself in front of visiting dignitaries.' It may not be worth the price of admission, but it almost is, to hear Schwarzenegger proudly boast, 'Guess who else was in this pool? U.S. But all goes more or less as expected until the three arrive in Turkey and are made the guests of Prince Hapi (Schwarzenegger), whose hospitality is hard to distinguish from captivity.

This could be the first case in cinematic history of a character voluntarily entering a movie because of the objective fact that she is required.įogg is the straight man to Passepartout for much of the journey, allowing Chan to steal scenes with shameless mugging, astonished double-takes and his remarkably physical agility. There is a brief stop at an art fair in France, where the beautiful Monique ( Cecile De France) insists on joining their expedition and cannot be dissuaded we think at first she has a nefarious motive, but no, she's probably taken a class in screenplay construction and knows that the film requires a sexy female lead. So off we go, by horse, train, ship, hot air balloon and so on. Passeportout's hidden motive for joining the journey is to elude the police, sneak out of England and return the Buddha to China. This valet we have already met, making a sudden exit from the Bank of England after having stolen the priceless Jade Buddha, a relic much treasured by his native village in China, but nabbed by the Black Scorpions, hirelings of the evil warlord Fang. Fogg ( Steve Coogan) accepts the bet, and as he's preparing for his journey, he hires a new valet, Passepartout. Kelvin is outraged by his presumption and makes him a dare: Either (a) Fogg circles the globe by the deadline and Kelvin resigns from the club, or (b) Fogg resigns and discontinues his confounded experiments. Lord Kelvin ( Jim Broadbent), president of the club, is a mainstream scientist who no doubt gave his name to the scientific term 'kelvin,' which measures how many degrees of separation there are between you and Sir Kelvin Bacon, the inventor of gravity.įogg claims the world can be circled in 80 days. Phileas Fogg is much resented by the members of the fogbound Explorers' Club because of his crackpot inventions and fevered schemes. Oh, the final credits song was 'It's a Small World.' Īround the World in 80 Days (2004) Frank Coraci.The set-up is familiar. Orville Wright (Luke Wilson) and Wilbur Wright (Owen Wilson) Jim Broadbent played Lord Kelvin wonderfully. 'Ding dang dong, Passepartout, ding dang dong.'

But this movie has a different story (centered around Jackie Chan's character). I was expecting a more traditional Around the World in 80 Days story. I was curious how many days it would take to travel the world via just air balloon. Maybe his initial fake accent was terrible. The actor Steve Coogan doesn't seem the part. I decided to give the movie neither a thumbs up nor a thumbs down. Netflix determined the movie for me as a 86% match. In different words, I would have changed the tone from dominantly comedy to more serious and lightly comedic. Ignoring the terrible acting and focusing more on the action (and also some of the visuals), then the movie was a delight to watch. The movie had great comedic elements, but I was occasionally disappointed by some of the actors.