Around the World in 80 Days (2004)

★★
Around the World in 80 Days is an unspectacular movie that runs on Jackie Chan's star power, which is fading fast in the U.S. after his The Medallion failed to impress anyone. While the writers—three Davids (Titcher, Benullo, Goldstein)—reworked the Jules Verne story to make the Passepartout character Chinese, director Frank Coraci stages some good fight scenes featuring the Buster Keaton of martial arts but renders everything else in the movie as afterthoughts. This makes for a very dull affair in which the story just plods along, and we have no choice but to look forward to the next fight scene.

Steve Coogan stars as Phileas Fogg, a crackpot inventor who thinks it is possible to travel around the world in 80 days. Since this is the late 1800s, such a feat would be extremely difficult, though not impossible. Nevertheless, Lord Kelvin (Jim Broadbent) proposes a challenge. If Fogg can do it, Lord Kelvin will retire from his position. If not, Fogg will lose his status in the ranks of British inventors. Determined to prove Kelvin wrong, Fogg hires Passepartout (Chan) to be his escort. Passepartout just stole a precious artifact from the bank, but it really belongs to his village, and he's just stealing it back. Passepartout goes along with Fogg because it would hasten his trip back to China.

While in France, the duo meets Monique (Cécile De France). She would love the opportunity to circumnavigate the globe, so she tags along as the third partner. Meanwhile, Lord Kelvin tries to cheat by sending Inspector Fix (Ewen Bremner) to sabotage Fogg's progress. He isn't met with much success, though. Fogg, Passepartout and Monique travel to all sorts of destinations like Turkey, China, San Francisco, the Old West and finally New York City. Actors like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Luke Wilson and Owen Wilson pop up for cameos, and while some of these scenes are funny, their inclusion suggests a pathetic attempt by the filmmakers to boost the film's credibility.

The movie's two big fight scenes offer the only relief from boredom. Once the travelers reach Passepartout's village, an army of Chinese warriors shows up to take the relic. Fortunately, another army—this one comprised of ninjas—arrives on the scene to save the day. The other fight sequence takes place in a huge warehouse storing the pieces of the Statue of Liberty. Passepartout fights off several goons using whatever props he can find. It's good to see that he can still fight so well at his age, but he really needs to choose a better film to showcase his skills next time.

Around the World in 80 Days is forgettable drivel. It's not much fun, and the story is short on wit or intelligence. Everything takes a back seat to Jackie Chan. Even though he's the movie's only bright spot, he's not bright enough to shine outside the confines of this mundane story. True to Lord Kelvin's name, the screenplay is absolute zero. Thank Jackie Chan's fight scenes for the two-star rating.

© 2004 Silver Screen Reviews