Around the World in 80 Days (2004)

Image credit: Around the World in 80 Days: David Appleby

HEY, VERNE Chan and Coogan add a nutty element of slapstick charm to ''Around the World in 80 Days''

Because Around the World in 80 Days has been remade from the raw stuff of Jules Verne’s 1873 novel, certain basic architecture is familiar: Cockeyed inventor Phileas Fogg (swell British comic Steve Coogan) must still circle the globe in record-breaking time, or else lose a steep wager. And because the 1956 production still sets the bar for number of cameo appearances jammed into a supersized romp, this amiably dorky redo directed by ''The Waterboy'''s Frank Coraci doesn't try to match guest-star abundance, but includes a drive-by hello from, among others, that shrewd high flyer Arnold Schwarzenegger in his last pre-gubernatorial acting gig.

What's new and nutty, though, is the physical comedy of Jackie Chan as Fogg's manservant, Passepartout, a tailor-made tweak that results in a martial-arts subplot nestled with surprising charm in Verne's fantasy of futurism and eccentricity.