[Film] Around The World In 120 Minutes (Around the World in 80 Days (DVD))

Name: Andy.mack

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Product:	Around the World in 80 Days (DVD)
Date:	08/05/07 (94 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Quite funny, good family film

Disadvantages: lacks something for more mature viewers

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 lead role as Phileas Fogg, a crazy inventor with a number of inventions. A chance meeting with Passepartout (Chan) sees Fogg meet the perfect test subject for his inventions. Whilst trying to prove his credentials to the science organisation in London he gets himself into a challenge, to navigate the world in 80 days. So with Passepartout at his side Fogg takes off around the world to prove its possible with the Director of the Academy’s chair as his ultimate goal.

It’s a premise for a film that does actually work. Of course this is a remake and not having seen the original or read Verne’s novel. This is a comedy for all the family but I imagine that with the amount of martial arts involved it’s quite removed from the original concept. As a comedy it works in the same way as Rush Hour or Shanghai Noon. The appeal of Chan’s comical martial arts performances, combined with Coogan’s ability to deliver some witty one liner’s does work reasonably well. There is however an overwhelming sense that this movie could have been so much better.

The combination of Coogan and Chan do play well off each other, Chan’s inability to really work with a mass script due to his limited English is complimented very well with Coogan. The two don’t seem to have the same appeal as Chan and Chris Rock or Owen Wilson but something about the pair of them work. That said again there could have been a lot more to this movie and I really feel that director Frank Coraci, Click and The Wedding Singer, really missed a trick here. There is a lot of potential for the characters to be evolved a lot further but he seems to have really got them into a safe zone.

Of course with any Chan movie the stunts are amazing and that is what really makes him great for these kind of roles. Ok perhaps he isn’t perhaps the best person to have in a comedy but because of the ludicrous situations he gets himself into it makes it funny. The script and plot in general seem to work to both Coogan and Chan’s strong points but in trying to accommodate both I think it also highlights a number of the films failings such as the limited communication between the two leads. For the most part Coogan seems to be talking at Chan, rather than to him and for me this looses a slight edge to the movie.

The addition of Cecile De France, a mainly French staring actress, in the lead female role she seems to add a bit of easy on the eye viewing for the men. She’s a good looking girl and despite the lack of chemistry between her and Coogan, which I assume, was meant to be there, she still does quite a good job and fills the role well. With a number of cameo appearances from some big stars it helps to detract the attention from the fact that the film could be an awful lot better than it actually is.

While the script isn’t the strongest, the plot works and that is probably more down to what it is based on than this adaptation. The adaptation of which was largely done by David Ticher, who seems to be better known for his work on TV shows. I think the combination of him and Coraci seemed to have really missed a trick and while this film works on a family basis, I don’t think it quite offers enough to hold the interest of people without kids.

Overall while this Disney backed project will meet with the approval of parents and kids alike it seems to have missed out on an audience somewhere in the middle. Films of this type have the ability to appeal to the mid 20’s something market, as Chan has proven with the likes of Rush Hour but I really felt this lacked the more subtle humour that would have increased its appeal. With all that said it does make for a watch able movie and while I may not stand the test of more than one viewing it is a good film for all the family.

Amazon: £6.48
Amazon Marketplace: £0.49

Summary: Chan and Coogan combine in a Family Comedy