Dir. Frank Coraci, 2004, US/UK/Germany/Ireland , 120 mins
Cast:
Jackie Chan, Steve Coogan, Cecile de France, Jim Broadbent, Ewen Bremner, Jim McNeice, Karen Joy Morris
Every now and then, there comes along a film that promises spectacle never seen before or thought imaginable. The parting of the Red Sea, a 60-foot ape climbing the Empire State Building, a boy and an alien flying across the sky on a BMX bike. Now publicity is priming audiences for the sight of Jackie Chan, Steve Coogan, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, with long luscious curly hair, all sharing a Jacuzzi together. Worth the price of admission? Well...
Around the World in 80 Days is a jumble of slapstick, one-liners, and spectacular martial arts scenes - not surprising given executive-producer Jackie Chan was in charge of fight choreography. Frank Coraci, the director of Adam Sandler vehicles The Wedding Singer and The Waterboy, turns Jules Verne's adventure story into an episodic and cartoonish comedy, with more than a nod to oversized, mega-budgeted films such as It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, The Big Bus, and Michael Anderson's 1956 version of Around the World in Eighty Days. The rule of thumb with this genre of comedy is excess and more excess, with the added pleasure of trying to spot as many star cameos as possible. In Anderson 's film stars such as Buster Keaton, Marlene Dietrich, Noel Coward, and Frank Sinatra all made an appearance. With Coraci's film we are given Schwarzenegger, Kathy Bates, and John Cleese, to name a few. Fun as they are, Sinatra and Keaton they are not.
In an attempt to make a more contemporary version of the story, the film stuffs as many ideas into every scene as possible, and the film suffers from being too busy while being too slight at the same time. The plot about Phileas Fogg (Coogan) trying to win a wager by circumnavigating the globe is over-shadowed by a storyline about Passepartout (Chan) stealing back a jade Buddha from the Bank of England to be returned to his village in China. This is where the evil General Fang (Morris) and her hoards of kung-fu villains come in to get the statue back. Cue lots of fights and martial arts mayhem. There is also the introduction of an aspiring artist, the adventure-seeking Monique (de France), who wangles her way into the expedition and inevitably becomes Fogg's love-interest. As with films such as It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World the danger is that they can be chronically hit and miss, relying on the logic that even if 50 percent of the gags fall flat on their face, the other half must be funny.
Around the World in 80 Days manages to be entertaining, charming, and laugh-out-loud funny while still being lightweight, mildly annoying, and ultimately unsatisfying. The script rambles along from one set piece to another without giving a second thought to where it is going. Some of the numerous cameos seem like wasted opportunities while Broadbent, as Lord Kelvin, the President of the Royal Institute of Science and Fogg's nemesis, and Bremner as Fix, the unlucky accident-prone bent copper hired to thwart Fogg's progress, both give way-over-the-top performances that seem more suitable for pantomime.
There is, however, plenty to enjoy here. Along with some beautiful CGI-animated map stops by Dutch artist Micha Klien, showing Fogg's progress around the world, some inventive stunt choreography, and the occasional surprise guest appearance, Chan and Coogan are the real reasons to see this film. Coogan gives a wonderful performance as Phileas Fogg, delivering lines like, "rules are made to be broken ... or stabbed ... with pointy shoes" with an uncertain, rambling vulnerability that is inimitably Coogan. Chan, as thief-cum-valet Passepartout, succeeds in being funny, exciting, and charming simply by doing what he does best - being Jackie Chan. Whether fighting a number of assailants, or seemingly walking blindfolded through his stunts, he lights up the film whenever he is on screen. Although generally considered a martial arts expert and stuntman, it is increasingly evident that Chan should be recognised as much for being a highly inventive visual comic actor in the same tradition as the great silent comedians, such as, Chaplin, Keaton, and Harold Lloyd.
Angus Macdonald
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