In October, Jackie Chan (Jackie Chan) returned to the big screen with a work in the action and comedy genre, called Panda Plan. The film has a fairly simple plot when Jackie Chan plays himself participating in the operation to rescue the little panda Hu Hu in the zoo from the henchmen of a Middle Eastern tycoon.
With Jackie Chan's global reputation, Panda Plan receives many expectations for its quality. However, the finished product was another humiliating failure for the 70-year-old actor after the box office bomb A Legend in July. Audiences finally had to acknowledge the era of the Chinese martial arts superstar. past.
SCMP writer James Marsh declared that Panda Plan is a terrible entertainment film and an insult to viewers, scoring only 1/5 star. This is shown right from a small detail, the warning text at the end of the film. Specifically, the producer said, “No animals were harmed during the making of the film” before clarifying, “All animals are visual effects.”
According to the commentator, the warning line is completely redundant because viewers can easily recognize that fact while watching the movie. It's hard to imagine that “three-cent” techniques still exist in an era of rapidly developing technology.
Not only were the effects sketchy, Jackie Chan's role was unexpectedly bland. Throughout the film, the veteran actor showed humility by admitting that he was not as talented and strong as he appeared on screen, and even joked about his big nose. However, in the end, Panda Plan portrays Jackie Chan as a heroic, likable character who does not hesitate to risk his life to protect the “fake” panda.
“As he turns 70, Jackie Chan has entered another chapter in his career, where his public image overshadows all his performing efforts. So much so that in Panda Plan, the actor actually plays himself and is supported many times by other characters because he is a Jackie Chan fan,” James Marsh quipped.
In the movie, even Jackie Chan's strength, martial arts, was miserably criticized. A dull journey is presented through lazily choreographed fight scenes, slow chases, and languid interactions between the main character and the mercenary group.
Another puzzling detail is that instead of handing over Hu Hu, Jackie Chan was willing to put himself and the other hostages in danger. That action might be reluctant to sympathize if Hu Hu is a cute animal, with more than 700 million online followers as introduced. However, in the eyes of the audience, it is just poorly designed pixel puzzles.
The review on Casey's Movie Mania gave Panda Plan 2.5 out of 5 stars. The author commented that the film marked another disappointment for Jackie Chan after his brief comeback in Ride On and the disaster A Legend.
The film has a few humorous scenes typical of Jackie Chan, but not many and the later they get more boring. The author believes that the film should only be 99 minutes long, instead of 1 hour 39 minutes. Regarding the actors, aside from Jackie Chan who still retains some of his goofy charms, the remaining actors are largely unremarkable.
Jim Morazzini of Voices From The Balcony thinks that the film is a bit too safe and too cute, suitable for children's entertainment, but adults have difficulty being patient enough to watch. The film's biggest problem is that the villains never feel like they pose a threat to the heroic protagonist. They are described as an elite fighting force with a lot of real-life combat experience, but they are easily trapped in ventilation ducts and disarmed because they are busy playing video games without knowing that the detained person has been rescued. escape…
Besides, according to Morazzini, the first and second parts of Panda Plan are not coherent with each other when one side is humorous and light, while the other side tries to dramatize the story.
On the famous review site IMDb, Panda Plan only scored 6.1/10 points. Opinions all agree that the film is for younger audiences (with the familiar motif of heroes fighting bad guys) and can attract Chinese viewers, but cannot compete in the North American market.