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List Price: $14.99 | | Label: Walt Disney Video
Salesrank: 36744
Released: November 2, 2004 |
| Our Price: $4.97 |
| Used Price: $0.83 |
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MPAA Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Get ready for phenomenal fun, spectacular adventures, and nonstop action as hilarious megastar Jackie Chan (SHANGHAI NOON, SHANGHAI KNIGHTS) dares to do what no one has done before — beat the clock in a race around the world. Traveling the globe by land, sea, air, and even in-line skates, Chan and his buddies are greeted with impossible obstacles at every planned and unplanned stop along the way, making their fantastically speedy voyage more frantic and heart-pounding than ever! Filled with amazing stunts, humor, and the importance of friendship and following your dreams, AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS is one trip the whole family will enjoy taking together.
Description of Around the World in 80 Days (Full Screen Edition):
The 2004 version of Around the World in 80 Days is an entertaining hodge-podge of adventure, comedy, and scenery from across the globe. Phileas Fogg (Steve Coogan, 24 Hour Party People), an obsessively precise inventor, bets that he can circumnavigate the planet in 80 days--considered impossible in the Victorian era. In this version, Jackie Chan plays a Chinese peasant who retrieves a stolen idol from the Bank of England, then convinces Fogg to hire him as a French valet so that Chan can get back to his village. Chan supplies numerous spectacular fights against the forces trying to stop Fogg or get the idol, while Coogan is both funny and a surprisingly appealing romantic lead (he flirts with a fetching French painter who joins them). The various episodes--featuring cameos by Arnold Schwarzenegger, John Cleese, Owen Wilson, and Sammo Hung--are uneven, but a goofy good cheer prevails. --Bret Fetzer
Around the World in 80 Days (Full Screen Edition) Reviews:
Disappointing 
2009-11-26 - I usually enjoy Jackie Chan's movies and I like Jules Verne, so you'd think I would enjoy the combination.
Unfortunately the movie had little resemblance to the book and wasn't very funny.
I was also offended at the way it went out of it's way to portray one of the giants of science as a petty, ignorant elitist. Lord Kelvin was famous for supporting scientific research and encouraging many other famous scientists. He was in fact not born into the aristocracy but knighted in recognition of his achievements.
Beyond that I was disappointed that it didn't include the many and varied modes of transport and constant push to beat the clock I seem to remember from an earlier version (although I can't remember which one).
It annoys me that people like Disney rewrite these things and keep the same name. It's not that I object to the rewrite (although it was pretty poor in this case). But why pretend it's the same story?
I was very disappointed.
Four Stars for Fun! 
2009-11-07 - Too the nay-sayer who said Disney bad, I say "Pooh"! I've seen the Niven and Brosnan versions both incredibly dull. I mean how many times can you tell the same story and have it be interesting? Well this version with Chan and Coogan was terrific! It's really a vehicle for Chan's abilities, but this version injected humour, action, fighting, an interesting sub-plot of a stolen jade buddha and stars with more than quck cameos (Arnold as Turkish Hapi was hysterical). Whoever thinks this wasn't funny had their eyes closed while watching it. For some good clean fun check this movie out!
Chan Good, Disney Bad
2009-02-19 - The good news about this film is that it stars the always hilarious Jackie Chan and is quite funny. The bad news is that it was done by Disney.
Disney has alway treated its sources arrogantly and callously, acting as if could `do better' than a writer beloved by generations of kids. J. R. R. Tolkien noticed that in the 1930s, and shuddered at the thought that his tales might get their treatment. More recently, Disney abused Prince Caspian, by Tolkien's friend C. S. Lewis, remaking it into something they thought would do better with kids, resulting in mediocre performance at the box office and an agreement between them and Walden Media, that Disney would play no role in subsequent Narnia films. Good riddance.
In this case, Disney's victim is Jules Verne and his 1873 classic, Around the World in Eighty Days. The original is so heavily altered for the worst, that almost the only parallel to the original is the fact that both involve someone circling the world of the late 1800s in 80 days. Disney should have had enough integrity not to steal Verne's title and prestige for their own tale.
Even the essence has been altered by the too-clever-by-half twits at Disney. Verne loved science and pioneered science fiction as new form of literature. Almost all the scientists in this Disney perversion are corrupt, blundering or stupid. That and a plot that isn't good for children, reflecting too much of what passes for `values' in Hollywood, makes this a film parents might want to take a pass on.
--Michael W. Perry, Stories for Girls: Lovingly Adapted for Twenty-First Century Children
Around the World Jackie Chan Style 
2008-09-14 - I remember watching the original "Around the World in 80 Days" on television with my father in the 1970's. Dad and I both agreed the movie was a "yawner" and we were both asleep before it finished. While doing a library search for the Jules Verne book to tie in with the "Galloping the Globe" theme for school I was delighted when I discovered the Walden Media/Walt Disney version of the film.
The movie is based on the Jules Verne classic but with engaging twists and turns in the stories plot to keep you interested in the story. For this version Fogg's valet is none other than Passport 2 aka Jackie Chan. Chan brings his signature martial arts, stunt man antics and wacky humor to the storyline. Steve Coogan, a British actor widely known for his BBC comedy series "I'm Alan Partridge" replaces David Niven in the role of Phileas Fogg, brillant mechanical engineer, inventor and scientist.
The movie includes a cast of brillant character and comic actors, Robb Schneider of SNL fame, John Cleese of Fawlty Towers fame, and veteran actors Ian McNeice and Jim Brodbent. This movie is a world wind adventure for the entire family!
Great family fun with Jackie Chan
2008-07-29 - This is a funny, family movie with martial arts, a pretty blue-eyed French woman, and many hilarious encounters. At times there are flowing scenery shots that are lightly animated, a way of forwarding through time in the movie. Something I did not like and thought was stupid was the animated chicken, which appears in an alternate beginning option on the DVD and appears later in the movie, I think when they're crossing the Atlantic towards England. However, the acting, direction, and signature Jackie Chan stunts all make up for any minor problems with the movie. The DVD also includes a few deleted scenes, and a good widescreen presentation.
