Panda Plan: The Magical Tribe is the follow-up to Panda Plan, in which disillusioned action star Jackie (Jackie Chan playing a version of himself) went to the Noah Zoo in the Noah Islands for a celebration in which he would ceremoniously adopt baby panda Hu Hu. However, things got interrupted when a group of mercenaries tried to take over the zoo and steal the animal for a wealthy sheik. In the end, Jackie used his movie action skills to save the day.

This sequel picks up with Jackie heading to the Panda Sanctuary Reserve with Hu Hu when a news report on the car radio announces that a celestial anomaly has been reported in the area. This area is also said to be the location of an undiscovered village beneath the clouds that is home to an indigenous tribe that has never interacted with the outside world. Their drive is interrupted by a flash of light, and Jackie and Hu Hu disappear from the vehicle. Hu Hu runs off into the forest and Jackie follows after her, only to find themselves in the middle of the Boar Chase Competition of the Panda Tribe. Members of a tribe are chasing a wild boar through the woods trying to capture it, and Princess Sha Yi (Wang Yinglu) has her bow and arrow set on it. However, Jackie and Hu Hu soon become the targets of the rest of the tribe. A man knocks out Jackie and brings him and Hu Hu back to the village.

The villagers are an odd and eccentric bunch, and there isn’t really this sense of family. At the age of 6 each member undergoes a trial and then lives on their own. There is also not really a sense of love or feelings&mdsh;tribe members are often competing and fighting against one another. In fact, when Lord Tulu (Yang Yu, Once Upon a Time in the Northeast) calls out to his mother the Chieftain (Ma Li, The Dumpling Queen, Too Cool to Kill), referring to her as “mommy”, she grows upset at this sign of weakness and has her adult son publicly spanked.

The tribe believes that Hu Hu is the mythical creature that has been foretold of in their stone slabs. The prophesy says that when the creature appears, there will be a heavenly catastrophe. Suddenly, as if on queue, the sky grows dark and the villagers fear that the celestial omen and calamity are coming. According to the prophesy, the creature must choose a messenger to help her climb to the Awe Summit, in order to stop the calamity. Since Hu Hu already appears attached to Jackie, the Chieftain decides he will be the messenger. However, this doesn’t sit well with her son Tulu, who was hoping for the glory in order to redeem himself. Tulu is a bit of a wimp, always having someone else do his heavy lifting, as his sassy trio of idolizers—Ben (Ke Da), Bo (Song Muzi) & Ba (Wang Chengsi)—cheer him on. So he hires warrior Qiang Shan (Shan Qiao, All the Good Eyes), to kill Jackie, but things almost immediately don’t go as planned.

As Jackie delays moving forward with the dangerous task of making it to the Awe Summit, he tries to find a way to leave this magical village with Hu Hu, However, he starts to form a bond with some of the tribe members, teaching them about love and family.

Panda Plan: The Magical Tribe is quite different from the first film, and actually stretches’ the absurdity and believability of this franchise even further. However, it is still a comedy, and once again very much geared towards kids, going for more of a cartoonish and slapstick style of humor. There are even some animated segments this time around. The sequel loses nearly every other character from the first film, but introduces many new eccentric characters, with Hu Hu the panda actually playing a much smaller part of the story this time around. The baby panda is cute and cuddly, though it is quite obviously CGI most of the time.

At the core of the film is Jackie, who has found himself in this village surrounded by some very odd people. He is unaware that he has even made an enemy of Lord Tulu, or that he has hired a warrior to kill him. Soon after Qiang Shan is sent to kill Jackie, a turn of events causes him to forget everything and when Jackie saves his life, he becomes devoted to his new “Savior”. Instead of a mean warrior, he braids his hair, wears a flower, and cooks and cleans for Jackie. The film has a lot of fun finding ways to have Shan bump his head and switch back and forth between these personas for comic relief. Jackie also starts to bond with Shan, which makes him second-guess his plans to quickly find a way out of this village.

Another character of constant comic relief is Lord Tulu, a wimp who likes to act tough. He is always followed by his sassy, gossipy, sycophant trio Ben, Bo & Ba. He doesn’t have a good relationship with his mother, the Chieftan, who is always pushing him away. He is also jealous of the attention that his sister Sha Yi tends to receive.

In addition to the humor, there are also several action and fight sequences in the film, allowing Jackie Chan to show that he has still got it. We see Jackie climbing of statues, quickly weaving in and out of objects to dodge attacks, and fighting with poles. It’s his usual iconic blend of action and humor. There is also some wirework as the Chieftain has the ability to fly (though it’s explained that she cannot fly high enough to just bring the panda to the Awe Summit herself, as that would make the plot too easy to accomplish).

While a lot of the film is just general goofiness with these characters, and is targeted more towards kids, it does ultimately build towards a larger message of family and love.

Well Go USA has released Panda Plan: The Magical Tribe on Blu-ray, DVD and digital. We were sent the Blu-ray version for review, which looks and sounds great. While the first film had a more cinematic 2.39:1 presentation, this sequel uses a 1.85:1 ratio, filling more of the screen. The picture looks crisp and clean, with a solid level of detail and bright, beautiful colors. The animated segments blend in perfectly with the rest of the film. My only complaint is that the baby panda still looks quite fake at times, especially whenever it’s being held by another character. The film is offered both with its original Mandarin audio as well as with an English dub track, I primarily watched with the English dub since I just wanted to enjoy the visuals and not read subtitles the whole time. I found the English performances to be quite good and natural. Though some of the more cartoonish characters like Tulu and his fan club, sound no less cartoonish in Mandarin. I actually found that the English spoken dialogue sounded a bit more natural than the English subtitle counterpart—the words are not an exact match. The film also has a delightful and catchy poppy score early on.

Well Go’s Blu-ray release does not include any bonus material (unless you count the English dub option) besides the usual trailers and previews. Though there is some material that appears during the credits. The Blu-ray disc comes packed in a locking HD keepcase. There is no digital copy, and our review copy did include a glossy slipcover.

What’s Included:

Film: (1:40:07)

Blu-ray:
• 1080p / Widescreen 1.85:1
• Audio: Mandarin 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, Mandarin Stereo, English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, English Stereo
• Subtitles: English, French

Extras:

• Trailers:
  • US Trailer (1:11)
  • International Trailer (1:31)
• Previews:
  • Colony (1:08)
  • Blades of the Guardians: Wind Rises in the Desert (1:57)
  • Ip Man: Kung Fu Legend (1:37)

Final Thoughts:

While I still prefer the first film, Panda Plan: The Magical Tribe is an entertaining follow-up that’s still geared more towards younger viewers, with cartoony slapstick action—it literally gets cartoony this time around with some animated segments. While Chan does get a couple moments to showcase his usual action style, fans looking for a more serious movie will probably be disappointed. The panda also still looks obviously like it is CG. That said, if you watch the movie and don’t take things too seriously, it can be quite a fun adventure. I think the film is worth the look if you are a fan of Chan and are OK with more cartoony villains, humor and action.