Around the World in 80 Days

Read the book, please read the books and you will be drawn into the most exciting, magical, bright story imaginable, and then watch this series.

Lifeless, it pains me to say it, because I am a massive fan of David Tennant, but having watched the first few episodes, that's the first word that sprang to mind. In the book you can feel the tension, the excitement, this had the thrills of people sat in a Dentist's waiting room.

I may well get captivated later on, it may move out of first gear, and I hope it does. Pacing initially though is the real stumbling block.

The positives, first on the list, the visuals, it is beautifully made and produced, production values are sublime, the clothes and location work are pretty jaw dropping. I thought the acting was terrific, Tennant never disappoints.

Some good elements in the mix, it looks good (even if I did have to look for the brightness setting on the TV for the first ever time,) but it just lacked any real thrills.

6/10 this should have been better.

At first I thought'meh?' Then as it progressed it got better and better Great fun to watch tenant is truly gifted Highly recommend this all round series destined to be a family classic.

The key word here is adaption - this show is not the book, nor is it an attempt to represent the book in a methodical translation from page to screen - it's an adaption. That allows for some creative license and rejigging in its retelling of the original story.

For me, this was a successful retelling of a classic story. There was dramatic tension between the three protagonists - who go on the adventure - and the antagonists were suitably nasty and conniving. It seemed clear to me that one of the main themes of this version of the tale was the particular journey of Phileas Fog (David Tennant). His transformation from upper class man of leisure and suspended animation, who doesn't really care for anything anymore beyond his own comforts, into someone who eventually finds a part of himself and can begin to live, to be involved in his life.

This aspect of Fog's transformation plays out against the interesting main story arc of the 'romp' around the world in 80 days - an at times cavalier and hair raising journey that is quite entertaining - requiring some suspension of disbelief to be sure, but what classic heroes journey (within the realms of entertainment) doesn't.

This show is supposed to entertain rather than enlighten - and I think it does that very well.

An excellent cast makes a good fist of a very uneven script, but I was left feeling a great opportunity was missed. I read all the Jules Verne books when I was around 11, but couldn't remember the details of this one - and I'm glad I only looked up those details after watching this series. Had I done it before watching it, I would probably have ended up yelling at the TV like many other reviewers here, because so many great ideas (like the India part of the story) are absent and the evolution of the characters (who are all different) badly twisted. Beside all the that, the script they actually created is constantly frustrating and sometimes annoying, but the cast and production was good enough to keep me watching till the end.

I've noticed on IMDB there seem to be a lot of people that start to cringe at the slightest hint of something being "woke, political correctness" etc etc and will just punish the show with their rating.

Well, sorry if for those reviewers that want to live on a crappy planet and feel pained by modern sensibilities. In the meantime, this was just an enjoyable series, great scenery, fantastic acting and it was around the world in 80 days.