Panda Plan
review by Bobby Blakey
Throughout his career Jackie Chan has not only mastered the martial arts and world of the action star, but he has infused comedy into the genre to perfection. In 2023 he teamed up with a horse for a heartfelt action-comedy Ride On and now taking on another animal co-star in his latest film Panda Plan that co-stars Hu Hu, Wei Xiang, Shi Ce, Han Yanbo and Jia Bing. Could this be another great action film for the Chan archive, or will it end up more endangered than wanted?
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Panda Plan follows legendary kung fu star Jackie Chan who is invited to adopt a beloved zoo panda named Hu Hu, but 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.
The trailers and poster art for this film paints a goofy picture to what the film is going to be, so going in I just hoped for the best that my love of all things Jackie Chan would get me through it. After seeing it I think they have kind of marketed it wrong on some levels as it is a strange fusion of old school Jackie Chan action films merged with a family comedy and for the most part works to deliver a good time despite being silly more often than not.
These films where people play versions of themselves are pretty hit and miss. This is one of those films where Chan’s character could have been playing
anyone and still done the same character, but the fun of it being Chan adds more of the comedy elements to the bigger picture that likely work more because of it. The opening shot of the film is vintage Chan with a fun action sequence that sets the tone of where we are in this story. It’s over the top, silly, awesome and delivers in a way exactly needed for their story.
Throughout the film it blends the comedy and action fans have come to love from Chan films. Whereas the bright and vibrant color palate is fun to watch, it does make the film feel cheesy at times along with some of the goofy elements that come through in the dialogue and story. I know there is that family film element, but it felt like this film could have been a serious tale as well and worked as good if not better as opposed to this silliness. The biggest issue with the film for me though is the CGI which doesn’t work all that great most of the time. With what is possible now it just doesn’t mesh well when the animals are clearly not real. I get the reason for doing it, but we have seen some that look so real on screen so when they don’t work it just doesn’t look great.
This is far from any of the top films Chan has made, but there looks to be a joy in his face throughout the film that shines through in his performance and aura watching it. That coupled with the unsurprisingly well executed fight sequences make it yet another film that delivers more than it doesn’t. Some might complain that not all the fights are up to the usual level of Chan’s past film, but at 70 years old the man is still holding his own and doing more than a lot of the younger performers could even dream of doing.
I had a lot more fun with this film than I had expected. It’s far from a perfect film and will likely not work for most people, but I kind of enjoyed seeing Chan in this environment. With his previous film Ride delving into the drama of his stunt life using the horse and now this one using the Panda as more conservation, and both blended into the Chan style seems to be a direction he is going with his career now and it works more than it doesn’t.
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Join the fight to protect the bear when Panda Plan available now on digital, Blu-ray and DVD from Well Go USA.