Around the world in eighty days

Around the world in eighty days by Jules Verne, is a story about an English man, Phileas Fogg and his French servant Passepartout. The story is one of the most famous works by Jule Verne. It has been passed down through the generation and the film by Disney based on it is not an uncommon occurrence. The story is in the book would have made better sense if it were filmed as an animation rather than live action.  The live-action film by Disney has been altered to a point where someone who has read the book will not recognize the plot in the film. The characters have been adapted very differently in the film compared to what they are in the book. The characters together with the events in the book have been altered in a way that is only excusable in an animation. The result of this action is that the plot is weakened a great deal.

            In the production of the film, the events have been altered to appeal to the audience but the result is opposite. The servant in the film is Jackie Chan while the book prescribes a French man. At the beginning of the film so many things are different from the book that the films makes absolutely no sense. Mr. Phileas Fogg in the book is a proper English man who has a very strong sense of time and nobody knows what he does for a living but in the film he is an inventor. The book gives Phileas Fogg a very high status and opinion in the society while the film portrays him as just another ordinary man of the community. This kind of variation would work better with an animation rather than a live action film. In an animation, it would not be a disturbing fact that the characters have changed so much, or the events have been altered. As the story unfolds, the events in the films are modified, and the story is not delivered as is in the book.

Mr. Phileas Fogg leaves town in the book and soon after a bank robbery is reported. He is seen as a suspect mainly because he does not typically leave the city. In the film, however, the robbery is committed by Passepartout. It is not clear what the point of changing these events was. They make the story lose the plot in the film. The robbery was supposed to be a coincidence in the book, but the film deviates from the same. The coincidence of Mr. Phileas Fogg leaving town and the money being stolen was intended in the book, but the film does not show the same. The film adaptation of this book again would be more suitable for an animation with all the changes it has. The differences between the book and the film are major. In changing the appearance of a character, it goes without saying that the plot of the book is tampered with.

In the film, the widow, Aouda in the book, is saved by Mr. Phileas Fogg while in the film she follows them out of her will. The film deprives the story of the events surrounding her being saved. It also changes her name which makes the story different. The purpose of the journey in the film is not the wager placed by Mr. Phileas Fogg and his friends at the Reforms club.  It turns out that the trip in the film is what determines whether Mr. Phileas Fogg is going to be permitted to invent again. The point of invention here does not clearly show what is in the original story. The films try to manipulate the story with the sole purpose of keeping the audience interested. It is harder to appeal to the visual senses of the human mind compared to the sense engaged when reading. A writer has a broad range of styles of writing the same thing without altering the meaning of the story while a slight variation in creating the film makes it different from the book. When the variation is big and wide, the story changes its meaning.

The films change the stories to ensure they are as long as possible and as captivating as possible to the very end. The reason being, the character of Mr. Phileas Fogg in the book is not one to be influenced by the servant’s view or even suggestions. The servant in the book is there to help the master do what he purposes to do. In the film the servant plans a trip so that he manages to go to China to take back a religious carving that he steals from England. The robbery in the book is about the money while in the film it is not the money that goes missing. It leaves a lot to be improved in the future adaptations of films from a book. The plot of the book changes course when the events are altered diversely in a live action film compared to what would have been in an animation. The events that are not there in the book make the execution in the film over stretched. The seriousness of the mood in the book is weakened when in the film it takes much longer to happen than anticipated. The events in the original book are more precise, and Mr. Phileas Fogg is very punctual that despite the obstacles that come his way during  the voyage, he still manages to be in England in time to win the wager.

The film adaptation by Disney could use a lot of improvement and maybe a better script writer for future adaptations of films from books. The future adaptations of this book, however, would be better if they are filmed as animations. The book is more appealing to the interest of the readers, something the film failed to achieve despite all the alterations the plot was put through. The purpose of a film adaptation of a book is to appeal to an audience of nonreaders. A lot of efforts is required in making the film as captivating as possible. In the process of trying to achieve the same, the filmmakers may end up failing to achieve the desired results. The straight and punctual Mr. Phileas Fogg is a calculated character in Jules Verne’s book. His character is the one that directs the events in the book. Everything including the title of the book revolves around his punctuality, character.

The production of the registered a deviation from the original literature that is unimaginable. The plots in the book are precise and calculated; they are exciting to the reader and capture the attention undividedly. The same cannot be said about the film, however, it is based on the book in the acknowledgments but the events in the film itself express otherwise. In the future probably, a better adaptation would be made in the form of an animation film rather than a live action film. That way all the hilarious scenes in the animation will not seem misplaced or far-fetched because it is expected that animation films have funny and entertaining scenes. As opposed to other film adaptations of stories like “ A thousand and one nights” where there are variations in many films of the same thing, but the plot is maintained. Around the world in eighty days’ film adaptations are few but Disney’s version is the worst so far. It apparently fails to serve the purpose of entertainment that ultimately make the work of art unimportant.

In conclusion, Disney would have made a better film of the book in an animated form rather than having it produced as a live action film. The aspect of live action builds the expectation so high that a few minutes of watching the film, the interest of the audience cannot be maintained. The audience is distracted especially if they have read the book because the way Mr. Phileas Fogg is portrayed is not what is expected from the narration of the book. The animation would cancel out the major disappointment in the live action film. However, the forms of transport in the film bring the story to the present times, and people can relate to the same. The variations in the film are not bad all the way in as far as relevance to the today world is concerned.

Works Cited.

Verne, Jules, Around the world in eighty days, 1873.

Coraci, Frank, director, Around the world in 80 days, 2004.