Panda Plan 2: The Magical Tribe

The 2026 film Panda Plan 2: The Magical Tribe is the follow-up to the 2024 Chinese action-adventure-comedy Xiong Mao Ji Hua (Panda Plan). It stars Jackie Chan and the abysmal digital panda Hu Hu. The first film was about saving the panda from evil hands and taking it back to nature; in the sequel, it continues on this designated path. But they come onto a magical tribe whose prophecy, which would cause them to perish, will soon be averted by their historical hero, the resurrection in the shape of the same persona non grata digital panda.

Its first film featured a score by Huang Yixin with additional music by Haibei Wang, recorded with a large orchestra and numerous soloists, ranging from trombone to a series of Chinese traditional instruments, a soprano, guitar, the kazoo, and others.The second film is scored by Hui Luan and Meng Lingda. In terms of the instruments, the outset is quite similar. However, only a few musical credits appear in the end credits, unlike the more elaborate ones in the first, of which most recur. This time, credits are attributed to a diyi, guitar, and six vocalists, while almost all other instruments and sounds are reprised from the first score.

The first thing that is different is the grander scope of the film's events, now leading towards a fulfilling of a prophecy of magic, which obviously makes portions of the score feel larger than life and more mystical. These bigger-scope compositions withhold some musical value, but they are amongst the most basic you can imagine, even including tribal chants, a brief brahmmm and the usual orchestral writings. But also evident in the adventurous and family-friendly elements of the film, which are underscored by similar, less attractive music. The change of scope is more subtle and much more emotional in smaller moments, using more minimal strings, a soprano and various Chinese traditional instruments regarding the prophecy and schmaltzy sequences on screen in which new or renewed love for the digital panda is evoked.

The humour throughout Jackie Chan's entire career is often very old-fashioned, sometimes childish and slapstick. Evidently, The Panda Plan 2 follows the whimsical classic textbook and even includes a series of quirky, cartoonish sound effects, which we have seen before.

Hui Luan and Meng Lingda especially excel at the kind of comedy scoring the film has to offer, using all the clichés, from simple and childish performances to mickey-mousing and effective, short musical phrases. But above all, it impresses with how diverse they are in their approach through a huge series of whimsical comedy cues, in which there is a lot going on and recurring, espcially in the wider area of Chinese strings, woodwinds and percusion section. In the first roughly 20 minutes of the film, the composers have exhausted almost all means and ideas in underscoring the humour. Gradually, the theme of prophecy, emotional connection, and more becomes dominant, but in the more mature scoring, they grow in comedy, which is now more often reflected through contrasting these moments with a more serious approach.

The film also features a series of atrocious original songs, two of which, as often before, Jackie Chan sings with another singer.

It is a very memorable score in context, despite several issues.The music is not available and I doubt much of it would work separately.



(24-07-2026)