As the journey begins, the first leg is by a hot air balloon. Fogg and Passepartout are able to pack the basket of the balloon as efficiently as the passengers of the S.S. Minnow going on a three-hour tour! In the plus column, this film has some amazing camera work with widescreen and spectacularly crisp imagery from around the world. In the negative column, the director and editors seem to imagine that if something is good, then more of it is better and that even more is best. They were wrong. There can be too much of a good thing, and this film proves it. In each new location, the viewer is subjected to unnecessarily long, over-beaten scenarios, most revolving around Cantinflas and his physical comedy. Since I previously referenced Gilligan’s Island I will do so again. Imagine a typical 30-minute script of Gilligan’s Island being stretched out to 3 hours including a 15-minute tour of the lagoon. That’s how I felt about this movie. Much less would have been much more enjoyable.
I can understand how this film might have been nominated (the worldwide locations, the 50+ celebrity cameos, and even the lead characters), but I don’t believe it should have won. It was up against The Ten Commandments, Giant, Friendly Persuasion, and The King and I, each of them much more deserving in my opinion.
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