Bryan Cranston is forever thankful for Breaking Bad. It transformed him from an in-demand character actor to a great actor playing one of the most iconic characters in the history of television. Bryan Cranston’s bank account is forever thankful for Breaking Bad, because without it, he probably wouldn’t have juicy, well-paying roles in Godzilla, Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted, and now, Kung Fu Panda 3 (dude likes his third talking animal cartoons).
The Return of the Jedi of panda movies has Po (Jack Black) reuniting with his father, Li Shan (Cranston), and they travel to a “secret panda village” together. “But when the supernatural villain Kai begins to sweep across China defeating all the kung fu masters,” reads the official synopsis, “Po must do the impossible—learn to train a village full of his fun-loving, clumsy brethren to become the ultimate band of Kung Fu Pandas!” A Kung Fu Banda, if you will.
(Sorry.)
Outside of Black and Cranston, the rest of the cast is stacked with huge names, like the returning Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Seth Rogen, and Jackie Chan, as well as newcomer to the franchise, J.K. Simmons. His role was originally played by Mads Mikkelsen, but the Hannibal star dropped out because the writers really wanted a scene where Simmons yells, “Not quite my tempo,” at a panda playing the drums with bamboo sticks.
Can you blame them?
