Random Movie Review - Around the World in 80 Days (2004)

Steve Coogan and Jackie Chan are some of the many great actors out there. Both have enjoyed time in comedy roles while the former has also enjoyed some more serious roles and the latter with some action roles. Then came this film which is another one meant to be based on a book, but ends up bearing only a slight resemblance. Its debatable whether this move is good or not considering that this sort of thing has had mixed results in the past. I personally believe that as great as books can be, not everything translates well to the screen such as a few of the many miniseries based on Stephen King's books which if you compared to the films, the films are much better by comparison (for a few of them at least). So let's see if Alan Partridge and that one actor who doesn't need a stuntman can do what a few would believe is possible if done right:

A bank robber called Lau Xing (played by Chan) has committed a robbery at the Bank of England. To evade forces, he takes refuge in the house of one Phileas Fogg (played by Coogan) who decides to hire him as a valet when Lau gives his name as Passepartout (though really it was Passporttoo, but that one works well too). Phileas makes a bet that he could go around the world in 80 days in an attempt to gain a place in the Royal Academy of Science. With Baron Kelvin (played by Jim Broadbent) wanting him to fail as his job is on the line, he sets out a plan to make sure that happens while Phileas and Lau travel the world in which they find love, evade all kinds of evil and prove once and for all that the impossible (which obviously would've been at the time due to the technology) is possible.

The cast are all good in this and there is nothing I can really fault them for doing with what they had to work with. The settings are also good and the effects are decent too. Overall its not a bad film. Could've been made better and could've stayed closer to the source material. But for what it is, its goofy fun and one worth at least one watch. 7/10