PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *comedy*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *psychological*
This Chinese-produced digital animation feature was one of the last concepts to which Stan Lee contributed before his death in 2018, which was originally the year the movie was supposed to appear. I've no idea what legal conflicts went on behind the scenes, but I wish they'd prevented the flick from coming out at all.
To be sure, most of the original concepts with Lee's name on it during the 21st century have been relentlessly mediocre. I suspect that Lee didn't do much more than toss out loose ideas here and there, after which his collaborators hammered together various derivative scripts and animation effects.
PANDA VS. ALIENS, starring a panda named Pandy (ugh), swipes liberally from 1999's GALAXY QUEST. Though Pandy has some vague heritage from earlier anthropomorphic-animal superheroes in earlier times, he merely exploits those associations for a cheesy sci-fi TV show, in which he plays a spacefaring hero. But when a race of marauding aliens sees the show's broadcasts, they think Pandy is a real hero, and their leader Karoth (Chevy Chase) challenges the panda-phony to death-combat in order to save the Animal-Earth. Can Pandy overcome his inner schnook and discover the hero beneath the schnook?
If Pandy was at least a real obnoxious phony, his transformation to herodom might have carried a little weight, even in a routine comedy. But he and all of his supporting characters are thoroughly cookie-cutter in both their motivations and their desires. There's no surprise at the end when Pandy does channel some sort of Green Lantern-power to defeat Karoth's people.
On a side-note, I was so bored that I must have allowed my attention to stray when this world of animated animals played host to some sort of crossover with a 2015 Lee comic, "The Unknowns." But I'm not watching this thing again to see what I overlooked.
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