Release Date: June 16, 2004
Starring: Steve Coogan, Jackie Chan, Jim Broadbent, Cécile De France, Ewen Bremner
Directed by: Frank Coraci
Written by: David Titcher, David Benullo, David Andrew Goldstein
Distributed by: Buena Vista Pictures
MPAA Rating: PG (action violence, some crude humor, mild language)
Frank Coraci’s Around the World in 80 Days is the fifth instance in which Jules Verne’s classic novel of the same name has been adapted to film and, without having seen any of the previous four, I would nevertheless wager my reputation as a critic that this is by far the silliest of the bunch. This is to be expected: After all, it stars Jackie Chan, who is something of a latter-day Charlie Chaplin, and Steve Coogan, an English actor who has, among other skills, the ability to utter horrendously undignified lines with perfect dignity, and has abandoned any pretense of fidelity to the source in favor of a host of one-liners, sight gags, and physical comedy. Unexpectedly, though, this whimsical style is a great boon for the movie, especially since Hollywood so often works with a suffocating seriousness when it comes to adapting classic literature.
80 Days stars a very well-cast Coogan as Phileas Fogg, a 19th century London inventor, and the first of his many atrocious lines comes moments after he arrives onscreen: “The electrocution wasn’t my fault!” he insists to his departing assistant. “You refused to wear the rubber underpants!” Without a valet, Fogg is hard-pressed not to accept the services of Passepartout (Chan), a Chinese thief who is looking for a getaway after stealing an artifact called the Jade Buddha from the Bank of England. Fogg is similarly unable to resist a challenge from Lord Kelvin (the just as aptly cast Jim Broadbent), his country’s top scientist but something of a pompous windbag: Kelvin, having heard Fogg’s claims that it is possible to circumnavigate the globe in 80 days, demands that he prove it. If he succeeds, Fogg will get Kelvin’s post as the queen’s science advisor. If he does not, Fogg must give up his life as an inventor forever.
And so the race is on. Fogg and Passepartout head east, through Paris, where they pick up an aspiring artist (and eventual love interest to Fogg) named Monique La Roche (Cécile De France), then south to Istanbul and India. In an effort to slow Fogg down, though, Kelvin has engaged the services of Inspector Fix (Ewen Bremner), a corrupt and bumbling policeman, to arrest Fogg for the Bank of England robbery. Fogg and company thus detour through China, by way of Passepartout’s hometown, cross the Pacific, speed across the U.S., and enter the home stretch -- passage across the Atlantic -- with just hours to spare.
The various segments of the journey are edited together with a colorful, CGI-animated map of the world, which, other than giving the younger viewers in the audience something fun to look at, serves only to eliminate the most boring parts of the trip. In fact, the movie’s 80 days fly by, as do the two hours it takes the film to run, so that Around the World in 80 Days feels more like a highlight reel than an actual story. But no matter. Coraci, directing a script by David Titcher, David Benullo, and David Andrew Goldstein, has constructed a very nimble film, filled with jokes and light action, that will probably keep every demographic interested in a way not easily imaginable for classic literature.
Then again, no one will mistake Coraci’s film for Verne’s novel. With Chan playing Passepartout, the story has to get around the character’s French origins but Chinese appearance -- and without missing a beat, Chan, as Passepartout, explains that his father was French (but never spoke) while his mother was Chinese (and spoke all the time). Thus the accent. It’s an explanation constructed on the fly, and a hole big enough to drive a truck through, but it crystallizes the movie’s approach. It gives Coogan an opportunity to mug for the camera, quizzically and comically arching one (or both) of his expressive eyebrows -- which is about the only commentary provided, because by the time anyone will think to raise an objection, the movie will have moved onto other things.
In any form, Phileas Fogg’s journey around the world makes for an incredible story. With Chan to provide some of his trademark action-comedy, it’s even better. When Fogg and Passepartout stop in Paris, they wind up in an art gallery where Fogg meets Monique La Roche; in the background, Passepartout fights off a gang of Chinese villains who want to steal the Jade Buddha for their own purposes. The result is a (literally) artfully destroyed gallery, as the fight makes use of some art supplies to turn blank canvasses into recognizable works of Impressionism. Other stops on the tour include a standoff with a womanizing maharajah (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, in his last role before taking office as the governor of California) in Istanbul, and a chance meeting with the Wright brothers (played by real-life brothers Owen and Luke Wilson) in the American West that provides some of the movie’s biggest laughs. (The cameos don’t end there, either: Rob Schneider, Mark Addy, John Cleese, and Kathy Bates all have brief parts.)
Never mind that, since the story is set in 1873, Orville and Wilbur Wright would’ve been two and six years old, respectively, or that the Statue of Liberty, which is seen half-constructed in a New York City warehouse toward the end of the movie, wouldn’t be shipped to America for another 15 years. These sorts of inaccuracies are to be expected, embellishments for the sake of the film, which is not a lesson in history or literature (though it still hits all the high points of Verne’s tale) but a lesson in how to take the great stories and make them applicable to viewers of all ages.
-- Craig Roush (craigroush@hotmail.com)