Around the World in 80 Days

The folks over at Disney got some splainin' to do. Why would they feel that giving $110 million to the remake of Around The World In 80 Days was a good idea? While the original won an Academy Award and was much beloved by some (but not me, who feels it was the worst film to ever win Best Picture), its hard to believe that this one had much going for it at any point in time, because the script, director, actors, simply everything is very bad. You feel like in 125 minutes you've been around the world in 80 days. After stealing some sacred Buddha statue, a thief named Lau Xing (Jackie Chan) pretends to be a French valet and teams up with Fogg (Steve Coogan), an inventor who has made a bet that he can make it around the world in, you guessed it, 80 days. Full of bad jokes, clumsy action sequences and racial stereotypes, 80 Days is a mess from star to finish. Even cameos from a wide selection of actors (all of whom I would assume never want it mentioned again), including Governor Arnold Schwarzenneger, Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson and John Cleese, don't bring slight amusement. The DVD includes a "never before seen" alternate beginning (yes, beginning), a few deleted scenes, commentary by some of the cast and a couple feaurettes. A satisfactory selection of extras for the first edition of a DVD, but certainly not a satisfactory film to go with it. (Buena Vista)