Juvenile but has a few entertaining moments
Summary
Panda Plan isn’t a great film by any means with a poor script and cartoonish tone; I still had fun which is mostly due to some fun fight scenes, Jackie Chan doing what he does best and there were a few moments of pathos that gave it extra heart. To be honest, I’d recommend watching Supercop again instead.
Plot: Soon after legendary kung fu star Jackie Chan is invited to adopt a beloved zoo panda named Hu Hu, a notorious international crime syndicate sets its sights on the bear and offers a massive bounty for his capture. Faced with this sudden crisis, Jackie enlists the help of his agent and Hu Hu’s fiercely dedicated caretaker, leading the trio on an outrageous and unforgettable adventure as they seek to outsmart—and outkick—the bad guys at every turn.
Review: I don’t think anyone was expecting Jackie Chan’s latest entitled Panda Plan to be up there with Police Story and we were right, but it’s actually quite endearing.
I think Jackie’s best film of recent times was The Foreigner as that’s the type of gritty stuff I enjoy seeing him in. This is aimed more at kids (kind of) and yet still has plenty of fight scenes.
There isn’t much to Panda Plan in terms of story but basically, bad guys want to steal a newborn baby Panda as it will be worth a hundred million.
Jackie Chan (playing a fictionized version of himself) is asked to adopt the Panda which he gladly does. He befriends Panda keeper Su Xiaozhu (Ce Shi) and when the villains turn up to take the Panda away Jackie and Ce Shi will do whatever it takes to keep him safe. Despite being CG the Panda is actually pretty darn cute and I have a soft spot for animals… even when they aren’t real.
The film is bright, colourful and hard to dislike as the tone is just pure lighthearted fun. A lot of the humour didn’t work for me, but it did have a few funny moments where I allowed myself to smile. Few of the characters actually feel like real people and it’s basically just a cartoon brought to life.
Jackie Chan still pushes himself in terms of stunts with the help of some effects and despite Panda Plan’s cartoonish tone, there is one scene which elevates the entire film. It’s about an hour in where it feels like the real Jackie Chan speaking rather than the screen version of him. He talks about how the decades have gone by so fast and how hearing the word “Action” makes him keep going as he loves what he does even when his body can’t quite keep up. It adds some heart to the otherwise silly tale and then the ending actually had me tearing up a little which I didn’t see coming. I’m definitely getting soft in my middle age.
The music is mostly awful and is that kind of “comedy” style music I hate. It’s like it’s saying, “this is the funny bit of the movie… isn’t it??” WRONG!
Overall, Panda Plan is as nonsensical as it looked from the trailers but it’s playful tone and a few moments of pathos elevate above being awful. There are a few fun fight scenes and it’s Jackie at his slapstick best which is always nothing less than entertaining.