‘World’ beats low expectations

Published 12:29 pm Thursday, June 24, 2004

I expected my review of “Around the World in 80 Days” to be just three words, “best nap ever.” Maybe it was the low expectations, but I found it generally enjoyable. I respect movies that understand and embrace their purpose.

The movie’s $100 million budget was financed by Walden Media group, whose goal is to introduce more family-friendly entertainment to the box office. In that respect, it was a success.

There is a fair amount of cartoonish violence, which reminded me of the GI Joe cartoons I watched as a kid. There was a lot of fighting, and, yet, miraculously, no one ever died.

The movie begins with Jackie Chan’s character, Passepartout, stealing a jade Buddha from the Bank of England to return “the protector” to his Chinese village.

During his getaway, he encounters a wild inventor named Phileas Fogg (Steve Coogan). Fogg is embroiled in a bet to travel around the world in only 80 days. Passepartout sees the trip as an opportunity to return the Buddha so he enlists himself as a kind of sherpa to Fogg.

Along the way, we are treated to some hilarious cameos by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rob Schneider and Owen and Luke Wilson. Schwarzenegger’s first scene is even more enjoyable if you’ve ever seen a certain video clip of the governor’s younger, wilder years repeatedly played on David Letterman.

I found the movie to be suitable to younger viewers, but with enough humor to keep adults happy throughout.

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Mark Stansbury is an accountant and student who encourages everyone to take a class at BMCC to learn something new and fun. He can be reached at Mark_Stansbury@hotmail.com.

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