Pandabar is on the international red list of endangered animal species and are only located in the wild in the mountain forests in China. No wonder that the droll animals have also done it to a certain line -loving Chinese world star, who in interviews would like to refer to them as a “treasury” worth protecting. After Jackie Chan first lent his voice in the animated film “Kung Fu Panda” in 2008, the action star caused a donation two years later with a donation of one million Yuan for a research and rearing station in Chengdu specializing in Pandas. He also sponsored two cute Panda copies with which he also posed in photos. For this commitment, he was even appointed “Pambassador” (i.e. ambassador for pandas) by the local tourism authority.
It is only the logical next step when the now 70-year-old honorary winner in “Panda plan“The rescuer of a (CGI) panda baby swings up-and personally, because the superstar plays a fictional version of himself. However, the plenty of silly action comedy misses any information about the alarming risk situation of the species. In addition to some successful stunt choreographies, the film, which is very flat in terms of story, from the mainland chinese director Luan Zhang (“Give Me Five”) scores, especially with self-reflective punch lines, when Chan is repeatedly confronted with his own status as a martial arts legend in the course of the animal adventure.
Who wouldn't jump into the breach for such a sweet panda?
Action star Jackie Chan (when he himself) invited the Noah Zoo in China to sponsor a panda baby known worldwide with two black eyes of different sizes. But the solemn event is disturbed: a mercenary group around the brachial James (Temur Mamisashvili) wants the little Panda kidnap, for which a Saudi sheikh has offered $ 100 million. Together with the Panda nurse Su Xiaozhu (Shi CE) and his manager David (Wei Xiang), the aging action star, the martial bad guy, who turn out to be great Jackie chan fans, tries to stand up …
“Panda Plan” on Amazon*
Already in the first film minutes, “Panda Plan” ensures a successful punch line when Jackie Chan dies the film death with an exaggerated, splashing artificial blood while shooting a new action strip after a motorcycle stunt in a enjoyable church setting. In the final quarter of an hour, the still amazingly agile action acrobat, which took over many of his stunts himself, is choked for several seconds-which actually loses consciousness for a short time when shooting. Both scenes are anything but children's stuff, although director and co-author Luan Zhang seems to be particularly important for long distances with silly gags.
A good portion of Slapstick has always been a trademark of Jackie Chan's Kung FU inserts-and of course that is used again, for example with a hilarious warehouse chase over several floors or a bamboo beating in the panda enclosure. A mercenary handicraft stuck in the ventilation shaft, a relaxed farting panda baby and a rolling robot transporter with a smiley face, which, with a brightly colored Disney country with animal attractions, whitewashes than a zoo, but then spanned the (humor) sheet in terms of infantility.
Jackie Chan plays himself – with a pleasant level of self -irony.
Even with the self-referential gags, the script three-way team from Wei Xu, Meng Yida and Luan Zhang is not really possible to find the right measure. On the one hand, there are successful moments when Jackie Chan rejects a party invitation from Hollywood action star Sylvester Stallone or, thoughtfully, reflects his own career and the magical effect of the word “action”, which spurs him to top performance again and again during the shooting. On the other hand, the annoying Running GAG Greell oversubscribed star hysteria around his person at the latest when two Tumbe mercenaries through several Jackie-Chan tattoos on the body come out as big fans and therefore actually no longer really desire to finish their mission.
Ultimately, the simple knitted persecution chase including sticky-kitschy final remains only a pretext for a (quite convincing) show by Jackie Chan, which, despite some nostalgic intermediate tones (like recently, also in a striking self-reflective in “Ride on-the second chance”) is far from being planned (not only “carate Kid: Legends ”has long been in the starting blocks). Otherwise “Panda Plan” goes through as a harmless, active action comedy, the lousy effects are very negative: none of the (few) CGI bars is really animated. When Chan or Su Xiaozhu carries the panda texture from the computer like a shameful little sack through the area, which actually would have to punch them out of their hands because of its arbitrary struggle, then-like Chan in the acrobatic stunts in the 1980s and 1990s-all rules of physics.
Conclusion: Despite retirement age, Kung-Fu legend Jackie Chan once again proves that he is far from being part of the old iron. A fast and harmless action comedy with strikingly lousy CGI animal animations, which is also somewhat failed to “family film”.