Film Name: 我是大熊猫之熊猫大侠 / Happy Panda 2: Panda Hero Legend / Leaders of Panda Heroes
In a nutshell, this film lacks the essential qualities expected of an animated movie.
The colors are chaotic and the textures are poor. Even from the poster alone, the film’s overwhelming use of color is evident. The protagonist’s shit-brown, the heroine’s blue, the villains’ purple-pink and red—all these color schemes thrown together, plus the green of the bamboo forest, create a chaotic mess devoid of any aesthetic appeal. The panda should be black-and-white, not gray-and-white; the gray on the film’s panda looks like it’s faded. As a 2D film, it doesn’t even achieve the visual quality of a Flash animation like Pleasant Goat.
The plot is hollow, and the world-building is utterly illogical. Even if released five years ago in an environment catering solely to young children, its nonsensical storyline wouldn’t have captured their interest. This is especially true in the summer of 2015, following the release of Monkey King: Hero is Back. The supposedly mysterious panda八卦阵 (bagua formation) is solved with “three circles left, three circles right, neck wiggle, butt wiggle”? Do you think audiences came to watch you bathe? This childish plot doesn’t fool kids—it only deceives itself.
As “Miss Bi Xiaohua” explained in her animation screenwriting lecture, animated narratives must be logically grounded—not driven by deus ex machina. This film serves as a textbook counterexample of plot manipulation by divine intervention. Characters appear numerous yet stand as wooden pillars; emotions seem to surge but remain superficial; psychological arcs hit dead ends, feeling utterly forced.
Take “Flip”‘s death, for instance. This should have been a deeply moving scene, yet not a single audience member felt genuinely touched. Subconsciously, viewers sensed it was merely a plot device—a pawn moved by the story. While momentarily startled, they quickly returned to calm, thinking, “Well, he’s dead now.” This is the consequence of the deus ex machina: without any groundwork, the writer’s perspective forced this farewell onto the screen solely to advance the plot.
The screenwriter must have thought this way. To make the protagonist, Hapi, grasp martial arts, an emotional catalyst was needed—like the death of a friend. Thus, they arranged for “Fanfan” to die. Such a plot twist, forced by divine intervention, is hard to make compelling.
Why did “Fanfan” have to die? Why would it sacrifice itself for Habi? The film fails to lay any emotional groundwork for this. It merely tells the audience that Fanfan always trusted Habi—but is trust alone enough to drive such self-sacrifice? The logic here is absent. At minimum, the film should have clarified these points: Fanfan must have interacted most with Habi and shared the richest emotional bond; as an unassuming minor character, Fanfan possessed a heroic spirit no less than the protagonist’s; Flippy must understand that only his sacrifice can unlock Hobie’s full potential… Only within this logic does his sacrifice feel like a natural climax driven by the story’s progression, not a deus ex machina. Only within this logic does his sacrifice carry weight heavier than a mountain—or lighter than a feather. Whether it feels weighty or insubstantial depends entirely on the emotional resonance it evokes in the audience.
Just as Hobi began the film by deceiving himself into playing the role of a great hero, the film itself feels like such a pretense. Today’s market no longer needs such performances. May the film, like Hobi, ultimately find its true path and become a genuine martial arts master. At this point, relying on divine intervention to orchestrate the outcome is impossible; it can only depend on its own efforts.
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