Quite often, the roles Jackie Chan plays are not unique. He hasn’t played some notorious gangster or a bad guy yet. As far as I know, he’s been a random thug, but these were uncredited roles. In his latest, Panda Plan (熊猫计划), he’s simply being himself much like in the cartoon, Jackie Chan Adventures. Since it really is this animated series brought to real life, minus the grandfather and kid side-kick. The only difference is that in this toon, he’s an archaeologist with connections with a secret agency and in this film, he’s an actor/stuntman. Although most of the scenes with the cub are CGI, I bought into the illusion since to have a real one on set would bring out the activists.
The humour is classic; the stunts are over the top, and the situations he ends up in are gonzo! Hu Hu is the star of a local zoo and this cutie pie steals the show (even though most of the scenes are digital). His caretaker is Xiao Zhu (Shi Ce) and although she doesn’t quite get the screen time she deserves, thankfully she isn’t forgotten.
One program this place has includes having a celebrity star “adopt” an animal, and when Chan arrives to receive the honour, it seems some syndicate wants the bear too. They placed a bounty on it, and when a team of bounty hunters come in without a solid plan, the chaos that happens is gold. Half the thugs believe they can take down a movie star. That is, they know he’s an actor, and do not expect all that prowess Jackie Chan has is real.
I think this movie is a return to those roots that made Jackie’s Super Cop and Police Story films great. The silly moments are highlighted with an equally engaging soundtrack, and that combination is rarely used in Hong Kong cinema these days. And the impressive stunt work calls back to those times when Chan’s films were getting popular. Although these sequences are no longer done in one take (there’s lots of film edits taking place), the reasoning is understandable so that both star(s) and stand-ins can deliver what makes these older films fun to watch.
Part of this film’s charm borrows from Ride On (movie review) concerning man’s relationship with animals. And despite some hokey plotting, I still enjoyed the moments when half the bad guys are doting over why they like Jackie’s films. Despite being the bad guys, I still had to wonder why they would want to fight him. It’s obvious they would lose, and that part of the story simply requires not overthinking this film too much.
4 Stars out of 5
Panda Plan Movie Trailer
