Panda Plan: The Magical Tribe (2026) Review

“Panda Plan: The Magical Tribe” Poster

Director: Derek Hui
Cast: Jackie Chan, Ma Li, Qiao Shan, Rongguang Yu, Yinglu Wang, Tian Qiu, Yang Yu
Running Time: 100 min. 

By Paul Bramhall

In 2024 Jackie Chan hit a career low (one which is only rivalled by Kung Fu Yoga) with Panda Plan, a movie which – in the words of my own review from the time – was a “charmless affair devoid of any purpose or entertainment value”. With its cheap one location setting, misguided decision to have Jackie Chan play himself, and a CGI rhino milking scene, it was the kind of movie that I’ve been doing my best to forget about ever since I watched it. Whatever success I achieved in clearing the memory banks though has unfortunately been undone less than 2 years later, when the same movie received a sequel that I’m sure precisely zero people were asking for. So it is, in 2026 cinema screens were graced with Panda Plan: The Magical Tribe.

Did I watch it? Of course. Like a moth to the flame, there are few stars remaining in the world of cinema who demand such fan loyalty as Jackie Chan, a fact which is proven through my act of willingly sitting through PP:TMT (as I’ll refer to it from here on in) from start to finish. What’s most surprising though is that I came away from the experience with a feeling best described as mild enjoyment. How is that humanely (or even scientifically) possible? I’m still not entirely sure, but I’ll try to answer the question through this review, as much for myself as for anyone who’s reading.

The directorial reigns this time have been handed over from Luan Zhang to Derek Hui, who broke into the film industry initially as an editor, working on the likes of Wu Xia, Kung Fu Jungle, and the Chan starring Skiptrace. Making his feature length directorial debut with 2017’s This Is Not What I Expected, he’d follow it up with his sophomore feature Coffee or Tea? in 2020, marking PP:TMT as his third feature length production. Hui seems to treat the assignment as if it was one where the executives pitched “we need to make a movie with Jackie Chan and a CGI baby panda, give us your pitches!”, and perhaps being as equally disgusted with Panda Plan as I was, treats it like it never happened.

So instead, here we’re simply left to assume Chan is still playing himself (he’s never referred to by name at any point), and in the opening scene we meet him being driven to his next appointment. Using the ever-economical radio broadcast to fill us in on what’s going on, an announcer discusses the appearance of “a rare celestial anomaly”, at which point the driver and his colleague disappear into thin air, leaving Chan alone on a remote mountainous road. Accompanied by the only slightly more convincing Huhu, the CGI panda who Chan once more shares top billing with, together they discover a portal to another world (or alternate reality – it’s never really explained) through an old tree trunk. Thrown straight into the midst of a chase to hunt down a wild boar (yes, also CGI), ultimately the pair are captured, with Huhu looking to be turned into the main course for that evening’s dinner.

The village community turns out to be a wacky bunch. As per tradition kids must become independent at the age of six, and acts like giving someone a hug or saying “Mum” are strictly forbidden. It kind of reminded me of the whole parallel universe nonsense they pulled in The Twins Effect II, which similarly moved away from the grounded approach of the original, and transitioned into fantasy territory for the tale of a world where men have become enslaved to women (disclaimer: I don’t consider that to be the nonsense part). The magical tribe are led by Ma Li, who’s featured alongside Chan before in 2019’s Viy 2: Journey to China (and considering hugs are illegal, I thought it was kind of funny she was also in a 2020 movie called Warm Hug).

Events transpire in such a way that Huhu resembles the deity the tribe worship, and apparently it’s been foretold that only their deity and a “messenger” the deity chooses are capable of ascending the imposing Awe Summit, the achievement of which will stop an impending catastrophe. Details are pretty light on what this impending catastrophe is, however the plot goes in the direction you’d expect it to, with Chan chosen to be the one who should accompany his CGI panda friend to the top of the mountain at the tribe’s behest. Before doing so though plenty of tribulations await – not least his own desire to simply return to the world he came from, but more dangerously Ma Li’s jealous son, played by Yu Yang (The Last Frenzy), has hired an assassin to get rid of Chan so he can take the glory for himself (and hopefully earn his mother’s love).

If I was to attempt to put my finger on why PP:TMT works better than the original, then I’d put it down to the fact it’s a light hearted fantasy comedy that features Jackie Chan, while the original was a tired Jackie Chan vehicle that lazily recycled well worn tropes while attempting a dose of ill-advised sentimentality. We even get Kids from Shaolin style animated inserts, a perfect example of how the sequel wears its silliness on its sleeve, and doesn’t treat Chan like he’s still a 40-something action superstar. Quite the contrary, for the majority of the runtime he bumbles around like a 70 something year old man who’s just stumbled into some weird other dimension, and it works. There’s an underlying absurdist streak to the humour, shot through with a healthy dose of Tom and Jerry style slapstick, with a scene stealing turn from the assassin played by Qiao Shan (Jian Bing Man).

After falling victim to his own trap that he’d setup intended for Chan, he suffers from memory loss that transforms him into an effeminate protector of Chan and his panda, only for whenever he gets knocked on the head again to revert back to the assassin. It becomes a recurring joke that Shan constantly gets blows to the head, resulting in him spending the runtime switching between the personas, with Chan being none the wiser that he’s an assassin. It’s dumb humor, but it’s intended to be, and the silliness of it all eventually gets under your skin.

Of course it’s not perfect, I could have done without the Bollywood style synchronised dance number (even more so than the original, here every song has the lyrics displayed onscreen), and the end becomes somewhat overly preachy in its message of “only by standing united can we brave all hardships.” Thankfully the cheesiest lines (expect metaphors aplenty about conquering summits) are saved for a gigantic floating panda head that appears in the clouds, which in itself offsets any ill will purely through its bizarreness. Ultimately though it’s impossible to be too hard on a movie that’s key message is “everyone needs encouragement”, and despite having the odds stacked against it, for the most part PP:TMT manages to deliver it with sincerity.

The more discerning Jackie Chan fan may be thinking “wait a minute, is it really the end of the review and there’s going to be no mention of the action?” Well, yeah. There is action in the sequel, and frequent action at that, with the original’s choreographer Lv Shijia returning with support from Li Lei (The Chrysalis) and Su Hang (The Shadow’s Edge), however this isn’t a movie to clock into expecting a dose of JC style action. Every Jackie Chan fan is different, and for me I’ve long argued that Chan could still be an effective comedy lead without having to resort to action that his body is no longer cut out for, and in that regard PP:TMT proves the point. Let’s be clear, in years to come no one’s going to call Panda Plan: The Magical Tribe a hidden gem in Chan’s latter-day filmography, but does it entertain in the way it intended to? Absolutely.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 6/10