Around the World in 80 Days (2004 film)

The film begins with a robbery of an English bank by an unknown Chinese (who later turns out to be Lao Shin). To hide from the police, he is hired by the name of Passepartout as a servant to Phileas Fogg, a young scientist trying to break the 50 mph speed barrier. After a successful experiment, they are sent to the Royal Academy of Sciences, but Fogg becomes the object of ridicule of the "best minds" of Britain , especially the pompous Lord Kelvin, who believes that further progress is nonsense, since everything is already open. At the same meeting, robbery is also mentioned. Enraged, Fogg claims that he is glad that the bank was robbed, and that the thief is likely to reach China in just a month, in which his servant becomes very interested. Kelvin convinces Fogg to bet that Fogg will be able to go around the globe in 80 days. With the victory of Fogg, he will become Minister of Science in exchange for Lord Kelvin; in the event of his loss, he will be obliged to destroy his laboratory and permanently withdraw from scientific activity.

Although Fogg regrets his temper and rash bet on returning home, Passepartout convinces him that Fogg can do this. Having taken the carriage, they prepare to leave London , barely escaping from Inspector Fix, hired by Lord Kelvin to stop Fogg.

They travel to Paris , where Passepartout has to flee from the servants of General Feng, who wants to return what he stole from the bank - the Jade Buddha . She gave Buddha to Kelvin in exchange for military assistance, as she wants to capture Lanzhou , Lao Shin's native village. Pretending to be leading Fogg to an exhibition of Thomas Edison’s inventions, Passepartout leads him to the art school, where Phileas meets Monique, the future Impressionist . Although Fogg initially argues with her about the impossibility of what is depicted in her paintings, one of them impresses him - a man with wings. Fogg always dreamed of building a car that would allow a person to fly. Arrives at Passepartout after the battle with the Fen soldiers and tells the owner that they are late. Together with Monique, they depart in a balloon.

Upon arrival in Turkey, they are met by Prince Hapi himself. They spend several hours in the prince's pool, but then the prince orders that Monique stay with him as his seventh wife. Fogg and Passepartout threaten to smash Prince Hapi’s favorite work of art - a parody of Rodin ’s Thinker statue, which looks like Hapi. Although the statue is still broken, all three manage to escape.

Lord Kelvin, having heard about all this and about the theft of his Jade Buddha, learns that Fogg inadvertently became an accomplice in the thief's escape. Using this as another excuse to detain Phileas, he orders the British troops in India to arrest both men.

In India, Passepartout learns of an arrest warrant and warns his companions. Having changed into women, all three manage to escape from the police, but not from Fen’s agents. Using Inspector Fix and the sextant as a weapon, Phileas and Passepartout manage to defeat the enemies and escape to China.

Familiar with the area, Passepartout leads his friends to Lanzhou . After spending several days there, Phileas finally finds out that Passepartout is actually Lao Shin, the local warrior. He also learns that Fen's troops, the Black Scorpions, are participants in a struggle centered around the Jade Buddha. Fogg is very disappointed in friends, since Monique has long known about this.

Later, Black Scorpions attack the village. Phileas, Monique and Lao Sheen are captured. The next morning, Lao Shin challenges the young leader of the Scorpion group to a duel. He fights himself, but he is defeated. Then the “Ten Canton Tigers” come to his aid (as in China in the 19th century they called the 10 best kung fu masters in this city), one of which he is. The Tigers, although much smaller, defeat the Scorpions and drive them out of Lanzhou . The Jade Buddha returns to his place of honor in the village temple.

Frustrated Phileas decides to continue his journey alone. He goes to San Francisco , where a simple-minded scientist is a victim of deception and loses all his money. He is discovered by Lao Shin and Monique.

In the desert, they meet with the Wright brothers, and three scientists discuss their aircraft. Having looked at the plans of the car, Phileas declared them brilliant and suggested a couple of small changes.

Lao Sheen, Monique and Phileas then head to New York , where they are inadvertently blocked by a welcoming crowd, betting that Phileas will win the bet. Then the policeman suggested they “cut the corner”, but led them into a trap where Fen herself and her people awaited the travelers.

This is followed by a major battle between three friends and the Fen people in the workshop where the Statue of Liberty is being built. Lao Shin uses his warrior skills, while others are just lucky. At the end of the battle, friends triumph, but the ship saves to England without them. Although Fogg had a chance to get on the ship, he decided to stay to help Lao Shin.

Phileas, feeling that he had lost, considers it useless to board the next ship, but still does not refuse. This old ship belongs to a sailor who lost both nipples during a shark attack . Phileas convinced the captain to build an airplane out of ship boards in exchange for a new ship and a nipple sewing operation.

The crew of the ship manages to quickly build an aircraft according to the schemes of the Wright brothers. Soon they get to London. Due to the car starting to fall apart right in the air, they have to make an emergency landing right in front of the Royal Academy. Lord Kelvin sends the London police to intercept, as the bet requires Fogg to reach the top rung of the Academy before Big Ben hits midday.

Lord Kelvin declares himself the winner, but some people, including Monique, Fix and other ministers, begin to claim that Kelvin used dishonest methods to achieve the goal, but Kelvin did not care. Answering them, he offends the Queen of England, who is standing behind him. Her Majesty orders the arrest of Kelvin.

The Queen also tells Phileas Fogg that he did not lose: in fact, they still have one day because they crossed the date line . Phileas and Monique climb the steps of the Academy and triumph.

The premiere of the film took place on June 13, 2004 in Los Angeles , and the start in theaters took place on June 16. He also went on DVD and VHS on November 2, 2004.

The film has mostly unfavorable reviews. On the Rotten Tomatoes website , the film is rated 31% based on 127 reviews with an average rating of 4.8 out of 10 ^[1] . On the Metacritic website , the film has a rating of 49 out of 100 based on 33 reviews from critics, which corresponds to the status of “mixed or average reviews” ^[2] . In 2014, the Los Angeles Times placed the film on the list of the most expensive box office failures of all time ^[3] . The film also received two nominations for Golden Raspberries.

• Official movie website
• Around the World in 80 Days on the Internet Movie Database