Panda Plan

Jackie Chan is a true legend of cinema, harkening back to the days of the silent film era when daredevils like Buster Keaton would do his own death-defying stunts, but with the comedy skills of Charlie Chaplin and graceful ballet-like moves of Fred Astaire. To say that I’m a longtime fan of Jackie Chan is an understatement. When Chan made a statement a few years ago that he was retiring from action films, it was understandable given his age (70) and an extensive list of injuries, but saddening, nonetheless. So, when I saw that there was a new Jackie Chan action film called Panda Plan by filmmaker Luan Zhang, co-written by Wei Xu and Meng Yida, I was pumped.

The story revolves around Jackie Chan playing himself, a worldwide known martial arts superstar, who ironically enough is growing tired of action, so he chooses with his agent, David (Xiang Wei), from his list of PR events to visit a zoo to see a cute panda named Hu Hu aka Big Babe. Jackie loves the panda so much that he agrees to adopt it, but the adventure starts when a group of criminals led by a man named James (Temur Mamisashvili) tries to kidnap Big Babe for ransom. Big Babe’s trainer, Su Xiaozhu (Ce Shi), who happens to be a fan of the legend’s (and in a humorous twist, some of the criminals are also fans), is pulled into the action as well.

“Jackie loves the panda so much that he agrees to adopt it, but…James tries to kidnap Big Babe…”

There’s a healthy dose of Jackie Chan-style martial arts action throughout Panda Plan, which was a pleasant surprise. Everyone knows that he’s not at his physical peak, so you can’t expect to see Drunken Master 2 or Supercop level action set pieces. Yet, like pizza, any kind of Chan is good. Hence, you know that you’re going to get the humor (which Chan excels at so well, naturally with his facial expressions and body language), blended with props as weapons and innovative choreography. At the same time, the film is sped up to make it all more intense.

I enjoyed the meta scene where Jackie Chan is explaining to Su that he’s just an average person until he hears the word “action” on a set, causing him to spring to life. True enough, this is a set-up for later when he appears to be knocked out during a fight, but Su says the magic word to him, and it’s like Popeye powering up with a can of spinach.

The main drawback of Panda Plan is that the panda is quite clearly CGI. This, however, is not a serious movie where that makes much of a difference. There’s one sequence where Jackie and Su jump onto a gigantic inflatable panda in order to escape the criminals. Jackie Chan has a playful persona, and this captures that. While it will not win any awards nor be your favorite Jackie Chan movie, if you’re a fan like me, you’ll leave with a smile on your face. Who doesn’t want to see a legend do what they do best at least one more time?