Director: Zhang Luan
Year: 2024
Country: China
Alternate Titles: Xiong mao ji hua
Genre: Action
Plot:
Soon after legendary kung fu star Jackie Chan is invited to adopt a beloved zoo panda named Hu Hu, a notorious international crime syndicate sets its sights on the bear and offers a massive bounty for his capture. Faced with this sudden crisis, Jackie enlists the help of his agent and Hu Hu's fiercely dedicated caretaker, leading the trio on an outrageous and unforgettable adventure as they seek to outsmart-and outkick-the bad guys at every turn.
Review:
On the whole, this was better than it should've been, but it does have some issues here. Among the better qualities here is the rather likable and somewhat thrilling central premise, where it manages to trap everyone at the zoo and force them to rely on their movie-making skills to save the day. Showing the early filmmaking sequence where they finish shooting and stumble upon the opportunity to adopt the panda as the lesser of many evils thrown at him, which is then used to get him there for the unveiling of the panda, which launches the majority of the film to come. Knowing that the zoo has been overrun by thugs looking for the creature and forced to go on the run throughout using his film-smarts to fight back against the team while also protecting everyone else sets this all in motion as a fun way to keep things light and family-friendly where the unwillingness to hurt the creature keeps them from really going more vicious in their mission while it's the slight advantage he needs to fight back.
This is balanced out rather nicely by the solid influx of action throughout here, which helps to keep this one moving along rather nicely. The initial series of scenes focusing on the takeover of the zoo and grabbing the staff hostage while he and his team manage to slip through while dealing with the panda serves to establish the type of silly, lighthearted tone early on, mixing childish slapstick with the threatening nature of what they’re looking to do to give this some sense of stakes. The fights aren’t spectacular or over-the-top, but they’re generally enjoyable enough when taking into account the extenuating circumstances of who’s being asked to perform these stunts, even taking his age in the context of the scenes several times over, with the aging status and movie-star trickery requiring some innate plot-armor or lucky saves to keep him going. While some scenes, including the brawl in the panda nursery or a series of escapes in a warehouse supply store, come off decently enough to be holdovers from his heyday, they’re still not the standout setpiece required here.
That’s the main issue to be had here, where everything tends to revert back and forth about what the theme of the film should be. The series of slapstick encounters, cuddly animal causing mischief, and lighthearted tone all come together to give this the kind of family-friendly approach that nothing is ever going to be threatening or serious, yet the intent toward hurting the animal or it’s handlers flies in the face of that so the series of jokes and interactions are at odds with what it wants to do. The final reveal about what’s going on with the purpose behind it all also tends to take the seriousness out of the situation by making the whole endeavor for such a noble cause that it’s a shame it wasn’t just introduced to the zoo owners without his involvement and the whole thing could have been avoided from the very start so everything that takes place here is then rendered moot due to this. That, combined with the obvious physical limitations imposed on the star by his status in the industry and the low-rent CGI that comes with this kind of setup, manages to bring this one down somewhat.
Overview: **.5/5
A likable enough but overall flawed entry, this one is better than it should be, but is decidedly harmed by some pretty big problems, which manage to keep this one on the lower rung of the scale overall. Those with a curiosity for this kind of genre entry, who are looking for this style of family-coded style, or are just undiscerning fans of the creative crew, will have the most to like here, while all others should heed extreme caution.
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