Starring Jackie Chan, Steve Coogan, Cecile de France, Jim Broadbent, Ian McNeice. Directed by Frank Coraci

EVERYONE remembers Around the World in 80 Days. Be it the Jules Verne novel, the David Niven film, or even the ludicrously long running cartoon, it's a story that everyone knows.

And its latest big screen incarnation gives Manchester's own Steve Coogan his chance to step up from British TV to the Hollywood elite as he takes on the role of Phileas Fogg in his record-breaking wager to circumnavigate the globe.

Except, of course, that he's only the star for us Brits. Across the rest of the world this is a Jackie Chan film. And rightly so, because on this evidence Coogan's not ready to carry a big blockbuster himself. Close, though.

The problem with Coogan is that he seems unable to change his vocal range to match his roles - ironic for a man who came to national promenance on Spitting Image.

So Tony Wilson became Alan Partridge doing Tony Wilson. And here posh inventor Phileas Fogg becomes Alan Partridge doing posh inventor Phileas Fogg. You get the idea.

Affable

Perhaps that's doing Coogan a diservice. On screen he's affable, plays the bumbling, naive but heroic and passionate Fogg with gusto and charm, and looks more than comfortable mixing with the Hollywood big hitters who take up the obligatory cameo roles.

And he, Chan and the charming de France make a fun on-screen trio who share an easy charisma, especially when trading quips and indulging with the over-the-top cameos that see the Wilson Brothers as the Wright Brothers, Kathy Bates as Queen Victoria and Arnholdt popping up as a lecherous

But lots about Around the World in 80 Days jars with the relaxed, almost kids movie tone - most notably the full-on Crouching Tiger-esque fight sequence in the middle of the film, which seems completely out of place when compared to the slapstick combat Chan indulges in elsewhere.

And purists might be stunned by just how little the film and the book cross paths. Even the David Niven version is closer in content to Verne's original tale than this. Hell, even Around the World with Willie Fog was closer, and in that the main character was a walking bipedal lion in a frock coat.

Coraci's version borrows the concept and little else. Indeed, the central conceit of the book's climax is so badly abused here as to be meaningless, almost as if it were tacked on in an effort to please fans of the source material. This is Verne interpreted for the Spy Kids audience, with lots of steampunk gadgets and underpants jokes. The Reform Club gentleman member of the original becomes a mad inventor and scientist in this, stripping away the Victoriana for the tweenage audience.

But it's shot with verve and energy, and rollocks along at a cracking pace. It's difficult to see it becoming a smash hit, but as a piece of summer family fun it proves more than successful.

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