Here he plays globe trotter and betting man Phileas Fogg. There´s something very romantic about the 19th Century, when there were still places left to be discovered, and of course, in due course colonised, although the hangover of colonisation may be somewhat less romantic. The highlights of the film are the CGI travels between countries, when you get an overview of the next port of call. Cecile de France shines as the love interest and we´ll probably be seeing more of her. The cameo´s range from the very brief, such as Richard Branson and John Cleese, to the downright bizarre. The governor of California appears as a Rodin collecting Turkish sultan, and is probably the last person you would expect in such a role. Apparently he tried to have himself cut from the film after entering politics. If he had succeeded this would have been a worse film, but you now wonder whether this may have been his last screen performance. The Wilson brothers are great as the Wright brothers, Owen Wilson currently being a contender for funniest man alive.
Despite all this, the movie seems to drag on. You wish they would have gone for a more straightforward rendition of the story, and left out all the mock fights. This is one Jackie Chan movie that may have been better off without him.
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