Real world legend, Jackie Chan, is forced to prove his martial arts skills are good for more than just entertainment in “Panda Plan”. When the adoption ceremony for the irresistibly adorable baby panda, HuHu, is interrupted by a bumbling group of mercenaries aiming to take away the ball of cuteness, Jackie Chan and his two accidental sidekicks must become real life heroes. I dropped in to watch Well Go USA’s “Panda Plan” at AMC Theaters this past weekend. There is no better way to experience an action movie than on the silver screen. Add in some side-splitting laughter and quirky personalities, and you’ve got an afternoon well spent.
Jackie Chan plays himself, a mega global star going about his mega global star business, who somehow gets entangled in the kidnapping of HuHu. To make his real-but-fake character more believable, we are given a needle’s eye view into his world of movie sets and world-trotting events. We’ve all seen how overzealous some “fans” can be for celebrities. Now imagine you’re Jackie Chan, a guy that even celebrities fan over. Yeah, absolute madness. But within all of that crazy, Jackie Chan’s character remained humble and down-to-earth. That’s consistent with the things I have heard about him. So, it warmed my heart to see it portrayed here as well. I was worried that the stunts and action would be lacking because Jackie is literally grandpa age now, but I was delightfully mistaken. From “Action” this movie brought the energy levels to the roof. And in true Jackie Chan fashion, the laughter wasn’t far behind.
The adventure begins after he and his agent, David, played by Wei Xiang, go to a remote island converted into Noah City Walk Zoo where they meet HuHu and his caretaker, Su Xiaozhu. Xiaozhu has deep love for the fur baby and does whatever it takes to protect him once the panda-stealing shenanigans begin. Between David’s cowardly but clever antics and Xiaozhu’s clumsy determination, Jackie has his hands full trying to save the quartet. Director Zhang Luan perfectly paired Jackie’s high-energy stunts with Wei Xiang’s mischievous antics and Shi Ce’s dead-pan humor.
HuHu, the baby panda, undoubtedly steals the show. Every time he came on screen, everyone in the theater squealed and awed at his cuteness. Not to worry, animal lovers. No pandas or other animals were harmed during the filming of this movie. Sweet HuHu is computer generated. But the design is so impressive that one could barely tell. Sometimes movie graphics are so unnatural that it’s hard to develop affection for CGI characters. However, that’s not the case with HuHu. You’ll be in love in seconds as soon as you see him. The rest of the supporting cast also cannot be forgotten. This crew had excellent chemistry and the two dumb and dumber characters kept the laughs coming. Their involvement in the plot twist was completely unexpected and hilarious. Aside from the outstanding graphics, the set was also rich and vibrant. The soundtrack and overall production was solidly upbeat and engaging.
In my experience, people either love or don’t love Jackie. I am in the former group. As a fan of old school Saturday morning kung fu movies and new school martial arts films, I am always down to watch Jackie put a whipping on someone. But keep in mind, this isn’t a young, nimble Jackie we’re talking about. He is a 70-year old man. Of course, his stunts are adjusted to account for that. This is obviously intended to be a light-hearted comedy adventure. Not a kick-ass kung fu film. While the plot is about all the zany and ridiculous things Jackie and his allies have to go through to save HuHu from the bad guys, there is also a pretty grounding message if you pay attention.
Jackie Chan still has deep, passionate zeal for his work. His happiness for life was on full display in this movie. Hidden amongst the laughter, we learn from him how to laugh at ourselves as he points out the ridiculousness of one guy taking out a whole troop of armed men despite him being notorious for these types of roles. There are all sorts of lucky charms to grab hold of as you watch “Panda Plan”. I won’t give them all away here. Instead, I recommend you get together with your favorite people and head out for a happy time to watch this movie. It is a great date night, solo date, or family movie that many will love. Keep in mind that there are subtitles throughout the movie, so strong readers would probably enjoy it more.
CoolHappyTash
Jackie Chan: Panda Plan
3.5/5
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