"We'll set a new world record!"
Hello everyone!
Because we're about to travel around the world.
And no, we aren't going to take forever doing it, nor are we going to jet around in, like, 24 hours or something, the way some influencers online tend to do it.
We're going to be doing it in 80 solid days.
You probably already know where this might be going, but it's not ACTUALLY a Jules Verne thing, even though he's the one who originally wrote the book.
No no, this is an adaptation, and a really fun one to boot, because - and get this - it's animated with animals acting as characters, and an entire 600+ minutes series is condensed to roughly over 70 minutes, making it immediately watchable in one sitting.
So without further ado: Around the World with Willy Fog!
I don't have anything else that connects to this entry, but there WILL be others once I watch the other two movies that were made of the condensed-up version of the second season the show aired, based off Journey to the Center of the Earth and 20 000 Leagues under the Sea. I'm actually kind of excited, I used to LOVE these as a kid!
Yes, like Sandokan, they aired these shows here as well and they were immensely funny and entertaining, at least to me.
Anyway. Willy Fog, a gentleman lion, has just hired a new manservant, Rigodon, and explained to him that he doesn't do travel at all, so Rigodon - who's travelled a heck of a lot with the circus he used to work for - is conent.
But then, as the Bank of England loses 55 000 pounds during a heist, the gentlemen at the club are discussing both this, and the fact somebody in a newspaper claims it's possible to travel the world in 80 days, mapping out the route distinctly in the actual paper.
Another gentleman is teased about it, who says he'd attempt if he were younger, and Fog rises to the occasion to defend him, saying he'll be back at exactly 8.45 pm in December as he's going to start right now.
Ridgodon is NOT impressed, but he dutifully follows his master, as well as reveals he has another stowaway with him, Tico, his best friend from the circus, but who helps Fog and him enough in the beginning that Fog is like, you know what, I like him, don't have him hide anymore.
Their journey takes them from London to Dover and then across to Calais, from where they have to take a train to Brindisi. Well, alright, from Calais you have to get to Paris if you want to catch the proper train to Brindisi, and the first altercation with the wolf Transfer, who's been hired by Fog's rival to deter him and make him lose the bet with the other club members, occurs.
Transfer disguises himself as a lady and takes them in the opposite direction from the station, but Fog manages to catch the trains on time anyway. They then go from Brindisi to Egypt so they can traverse the Suez Canal, where Transfer actually steals their passports and it takes a bit to get them back, but they do in the nick of time and board their ship.
This then takes them around the peninsula to Bombay, where they have to take yet another train to Calcutta, and if you think their Indian journey is peaceful, think again.
Transfer manages to leave them stranded in the jungle on an elephant after supposedly taking them on a tour, but this is actually lucky because they run across worshipers of the goddess Kali, who're planning to burn someone alive.
This someone happens to be Princess Romy, who was married to the Indian Rajah as a child, and as he was a devoted follower of Kali, she's supposed to die alongside him. Rigodon risks his own life to save her, and they decide to take her with them to Hong Kong, because she says she has relatives there.
It turns out they've unfortunately passed, so Fog is like, you know what, why don't you return with us to England instead? It's not like you're that much of a burden to the party as a whole.
Romy's ecstatic, and the party gets to Yokohama to charter a boat which will take them to San Francisco, only this is where they run into their biggest actual lateness: they miss the boat.
Undeterred, Fog hires a different one, a cargo boat, but they go all the same to cross in three weeks, and of course Transfer's also on said boat and trying to make trouble, as per usual. He actually causes an accident that strands the poor boat in the middle of the ocean, but Fog being who he is, decides he's going to burn whatever can be burned and get to San Francisco in just the iron shell of the thing.
They do so, and it's a train ride from there to New York City, during which they get attacked by Native Americans, but they finally get on the ship that'll take them to Southampton, where Londoners are waiting for Fog, as they are in front of his club.
Of course things couldn't be easy, and two stowaways that kinda hitched themselves to Fog and his group, Inspector Dix and Constable Bully, arrest Fog on the notion that HE's the one who originally robbed the bank. Their boss, upon hearing this, wallops them over the head, because while they were busy chasing Fog around the world, he actually caught the lion responsible, and it's hilarious when the two sketch images of the supposed robbers are put side-by-side.
Everyone's like OMG WHAT A LIKENESS, and they're not alike at all LOL.
Anyway, Fog is released, and makes it back to his club in the nick of time, which means his chief opposition and rival is now broke and ruined, looking for jobs right alongside Transfer, while Fog asks Romy to marry him and stay with him in England.
All's well that ends well, and we're off to a new adventure together!
Short, sweet, and to the point, the movie highlights all the best moments of the series and manages to make a cohesive enough story without what's undoubtedly padding that usually accompanies episodes and such. Still, I'm going to hunt online to see if I can't actually watch the series as a whole, too, because I distinctly remember it being vastly amusing.
But overall, I highly recommend this, for both nostalgia and fun sake, even if it's just to hear Romy waffle about marrying Fog because, and I quote: I'm not sure I can marry a man as rich as you!
Oh, to be her and have her problems. LOL.
xx
*images and video not mine
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