Great Film: Around the World in 80 Days
Decent entertainment, but forgettable.
Jackie Chan has had a mixed time of late in Hollywood. There was the good
fun of Shanghai Knights and around that was the poor duo of Tuxedo and The
Medallion. This falls somewhere in the middle. Around The World is good fun.
It's not great but it has charm and energy and is the sort of mindless,
competent movie making that is hard not to enjoy watching. It's forgettable,
could have been much better, but all in all not a bad way to spend a
Saturday afternoon.
The look of the film feels very Disney. It is all very much orientated
towards satisfying children. It's almost a cartoonish realism with the set
design and costumes, clearly evident with Philleas Fogs gadget laden home.
The action in the film and the looks could probably have been more gritty
but in any case it looks very colourful and the various settings all catch
the eye. It is clearly evident that the film had a lot spent on it, although
some of the CGI effects are not of the standard expected from a $110 million
film.
Cast-wise, Jackie Chan as ever is good. He's a comical genius and as usual
performs his own stunts. The fight scenes are good. Nothing compared to
Chan's Hong Kong stuff but far superior to much of his Hollywood action.
Steve Coogan is someone I am a big fan of. He is the dog's hairy things as
Alan Partridge. He is a comical genius. He doesn't seem as entirely natural
here though and the character he creates doesn't always work. It seems too
cartoony at times especially the accent. Cecile De France is very good as
Coogan's love interest. She is attractive, in a cutesy sort of way but she
has a charm and a likeability that works very well and the three leads seem
to have a good chemistry. The rest of the cast are all excellent with a huge
list of supporting parts and cameo's including an excellent Jim Broadbent, a
great part for Ah-nuld Schwarzenegger, and it was great to see him on screen
with Chan, also Rob Schneider, Luke and Owen Wilson, John Cleese, Kathy
Bates, and particularly exciting to me as a Hong Kong action fan, Sammo
Hung. The best supporting part for me was Ewan Bremner as the accident prone
police sergeant.
Overall it's worth watching and is entertaining enough but don't expect it
to blow your socks off. ***
Cast
- Inspector Fix played by Ewen Bremner
- Colonel Kitchener played by Ian Mcneice
- Passepartout played by Jackie Chan
- Phileas Fogg played by Steve Coogan
- Jean Michel played by Robert Fyfe
- Lord Kelvin played by Jim Broadbent
- Lord Salisbury played by David Ryall
