Arts & Entertainment
 

Disney's childish '80 Days' does little for older viewers

By Amy Perez
The Daily Cougar

If you're someone who believes almost all Disney movies cater only to the elementary school crowd, than this movie surely proves your theory. Around the World in 80 Days is not only filled with the expected beautiful animated transitions between scenes as characters travel from one continent to the next, but is also full of enough clean humor to keep 5- to 12-year-olds amused.

This remake of the 1956 film, based on the novel by Jules Verne, follows the travels of Phileas Fogg (Steve Coogan) and his valet Passepartout (Jackie Chan) as the duo attempts to circumnavigate the globe in just 80 days. They meet an artist named Monique La Roche (Cécile De France) who accompanies them and, needless to say, shares a romantic interest with Fogg.

Unlike the original film, which starred Mexican comedian Cantinflas as Passepartout, Chan's role seems the most important, as he must use Fogg's excursion to return a stolen jade Buddha back to his village in China. With the help of stunning fight choreography (don't worry, nobody is seen dying) and the dialogue of a Chinese man attempting to speak with a French accent, the actor known for doing his own stunts in movies like Rush Hour breathes life into an otherwise boring bad guy/good guy plot.

Fortunately, Chan is not the only actor cast to liven the movie up. Moulin Rouge's Jim Broadbent stars as the evil Lord Kelvin, hell-bent on preventing Fogg's success because of a wager between the two. Throughout the rest of the movie, when you think the excitement of travel has died down, actors John Cleese, Luke and Owen Wilson, Kathy Bates, Rob Schneider, Macy Gray and Arnold Schwarzenegger make cameos.

Younger viewers will love this movie for the creative fight scenes, surreal landscapes and the quirkiness of the characters. Some may even be taken by Fogg's "whacky" inventions and the mess of a backyard he calls his experimental "la-bor-itory." But for older members of the audience, Around the World only meets minimal standards.

Around the World in 80 Days

Walt Disney Pictures

Starring: Jackie Chan, Steve Coogan

Rated: PG

The verdict: Unless you're taking a kid to see it, you're better off flipping through National Geographic.

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