Around the World in 80 Days (DVD)

"We have reached a golden age - anything that can be invented, has been." Perhaps it's because such a statement is so easy to believe of our own time that there remains such appeal in the science of Victorian London, when man flying in the air was nothing but a flight of fancy, and electricity was a novelty, let alone the myriad contraptions we now take for granted (and which are useless as soon as there's a power cut). Yes, it's fun to look back to a day when circumnavigating the globe in three months would be a feat almost beyond fancy! Jules Verne's classic tale of inventor Phileas Fogg and his wager (not a 'bet', you see - he's a ...

Jackie Chan is one of those actors you can either take or leave. Since he broke into the main stream he has appeared in a number of Comedy’s and the majority of them have been very successful. So having enjoyed most of his previous films, when I’d seen he had teamed up with Steve Coogan, one of my favourite comedians it seemed like a good combination. So the recent chance to see Around The World In 80 Days seemed like one I shouldn’t pass up. Of course I was still open-minded, regardless of the cast as it still had the potential to be awful. The film is based, very loosely, on a novel by the great Jules Verne, incredibly loosely I may add. Coogan takes the ...

Steve Coogan and Jackie Chan star in Around the World in 80 Days adapted from famous book which has same name and was written by French writer Jules Verne. The book was written in 1870's when the French were chopping heads off and the rest of the world was advancing to industrial age. Central characters in the film are Phileas Fogg (Coogan) and Passpartout (Chan). The film opens with a robber running away from police. I liked this scene. it was fast and the camera gave a wide shot of what was going on which was very pleasing. In anger Fogg wagers that he will circumnavigate the globe in 80 days. Impossible task, should he fail he will ...