Panda Plan 2: The Magical Tribe

by Mike McGranaghan

Jackie Chan is obviously one of the great cinematic action stars, so when he teamed up with a CGI panda for Panda Plan, it was understandable why hardcore fans scoffed a little bit. I thought the movie was rather charming in its relentless silliness. Apparently enough other people agreed because we now have a sequel, Panda Plan 2: The Magical Tribe. The film is no less relentlessly silly, although the returns are slightly diminished this time around.

Chan, again playing a fictionalized version of himself, and panda Hu Hu accidentally stumble across a primitive tribe living deep in the jungle. The people don’t particularly care about Jackie. Hu Hu, however, they quickly peg as the long-prophesied “divine beast” whose presence will save them from an expected catastrophe. The beast and its chosen “messenger” must climb the treacherous Awe Summit to accomplish that task.

I don’t know about you, but I’m totally up for a movie where Jackie Chan and a panda face a series of perils while scaling a huge rock cliff. That isn’t what Panda Plan 2 is, though. Most of the story deals with the preparations for the journey. Hu Hu needs to learn how to climb. Also, one of the tribesmen, Tu Tu (Yu Yang), tries to kill Jackie because, as the son of the Chieftain, he believes he should be the one to accompany Hu Hu and reap all the glory.

What we get are a series of slapstick scenes involving the Panda mixed with a series of intricately staged martial arts fights. There are definitely chuckles to be had from Hu Hu’s hijinks, and a Jackie Chan brawl always delivers a pleasing mix of Chaplin-esque physical comedy and dazzling choreography. In that sense, Panda Plan 2 does offer entertainment. Director Derek Hui never lets the picture take itself seriously but always allows it to go as broad as possible.

The downfall is that most of the running time is spent within the tribe. Getting to the actual journey takes forever, and when it does come – in the final 20 minutes – the climb is a massive letdown. It’s over almost as soon as it begins. Given that the entire plot revolves around Hu Hu and Jackie conquering Awe Summit, there’s something disappointing about the ratio of build-up to payoff, especially when the gags begin repeating themselves. At least there’s a nice message about the value of working together in the big finale.

Panda Plan 2: The Magical Tribe has its moments of being funny and cute. Diehard Jackie Chan fans will definitely get some enjoyment from the fight choreography, too. At the same time, the movie leans too heavily on the antics of the tribe members when what we want is, ironic as it may seem, a lot more of Chan goofing around with a CGI panda.