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Manila Bulletin devider Entertainment devider Movies and TV devider Jackie Chan delivers laughs and heart in 'Panda Plan 2'

Jackie Chan delivers laughs and heart in 'Panda Plan 2'

Published Mar 3, 2026 08:43 pm
A scene from 'Panda Plan 2' (YouTube)
A scene from 'Panda Plan 2' (YouTube)
Panda Plan 2 is a straight-up kids movie, no two ways about it. And as such, go in expecting all the over-the-top situational and slapstick comedy you can think of.
​Jackie Chan plays a caricature of himself as he gets sucked into a magical world to save the cute little panda-cub, Hu Hu. In this other world, they are captured by a primitive, emotionally repressed but highly comedic tribe, and it is here that the comedy ensues.
​Hu Hu, according to the tribe’s sacred stone tablets, it turns out, is their great deity (No big
shock there), and his coming heralds certain doom. According to prophecy, Hu Hu must climb the summit of a particular mountain, and only once she’s there at the top will the calamity pass.
​The village chief (Ma Li) says that the stories of old also call for a “messenger”, a protector to escort the cub through the many perils of the climb up the mountain. Her own children, the overachieving daughter, Shanyi (Wang Yinglu), and dullard of a son, Tulu (Yu Yang), vie for the title, but unsurprisingly, Jackie is selected to be Hu Hu’s guardian.
The official film poster of 'Panda Plan 2'
The official film poster of 'Panda Plan 2'
There’s not much more than that in the way of a plot, which makes it easy enough for the younger members of the audience to follow along. There are plenty of shenanigans in and around the village, before they head off to scale the seemingly insurmountable peak.
I haven't had the opportunity to see the first film, so I cannot say whether this is an improvement over it. But as a film, this one stands alone well enough, with its own little
The tale was almost totally removed from the first except for Jackie and Hu Hu. There is some heart beneath the laughs, as Jackie finds himself preaching to the tribe the benefits of compassion and of expressing your feelings as parenting strategies.
​Because, as I mentioned earlier, the tribespeople are repressed, where you must fend for yourself at the age of six, and beyond that, calling your own mother “mom” may result in public paddling. The message is not subtle at all, for the sake of the kids, of course, but it also doesn’t really ruin the movie for any adult who finds themselves as viewers.
So treat the kiddos to the fun and cuteness Hu Hu and her friends have to offer, and see Jackie Chan star in what is touted to be his funniest movie yet.
​
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