Panda Plan Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		1.5

Panda Plan Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 1, 2025

What is it that makes marquee stars continue to take on projects well into their supposed "golden years", even when those projects are completely lame brained and when those stars probably have both enough moolah in savings and more honored credits to last a lifetime? It almost got to be a joke in my personal review queue when I received PR from one company in particular which handles a lot of a major label's straight to video releases, as I knew before even opening the email the film would quite likely feature Bruce Willis in some kind of minimal role which got his name above the title and his heavily airbrushed face on the cover. Something at least a bit similar is definitely on display with Jackie Chan and Panda Play, though to be a little fair to Chan, he is not a glorified cameo participant in this outing, and is in fact nearly a constant presence throughout a farcical effort that sees him more or less playing himself (or at least a famous action star) who becomes the unlikely protector of a rare panda.

If Home Alone had featured an elderly Chinese man protecting a pet or at least an animal rather than a kid trying to keep his home safe, it might have played a bit like this overly forced effort. Panda Plan attempts to offer some of the same lunatic "smackdowns" of various bad guys that the Culkin film did, all with a variably animated CGI panda lurking around the edges. Are there laughs here? Yes, for sure, but they're intermittent and too sporadic, and the entire film is simply full of sound and fury (or whatever the comedic analogs might be), signifying next to nothing.

Panda Plan Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Panda Plan is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. This is an appealing looking digital capture that I'm assuming had a 2K DI. The palette is one of the strong points here, and the kind of goofy production design of the zoo and some other locales emphasize some unusual green to blue tones, all of which pop extremely well. Detail levels are generally excellent throughout, perhaps to the detriment of an obviously CGI panda. Practical props and costumes, not to mention actual human faces, fare a good deal better in the fine detail department. Some minor banding can be spotted.

Panda Plan Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Panda Plan features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mixes in either Mandarin or English. There's good surround activity throughout the presentation, mostly due to ambient environmental effects. Yixin Huang's score can also spread through the side and rear channels effectively. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English and French subtitles are available.

Panda Plan Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (HD; 1:31)

Note: As tends to be the case with Well Go USA Blu-ray releases, the disc has been authored to automatically move on to trailers for other Well Go USA releases after the trailer for this film plays. Those trailers for other Well Go USA releases also play automatically at disc boot up.

Someone had preset the slipcover spec on this disc to "yes", but the review copy sent to me (which typically mimics the retail version) did not have one.

Panda Plan Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Diehard Chan fans may find enough here to enjoy, but my hunch is even those in that particular demographic are going to find this a kind of tired enterprise. Technical merits are solid for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.