DreamWorks Animation’s most beloved martial artist mammal will be rolling his way into theaters early next year for Kung Fu Panda 3, and today brings the release of some exciting new pics from the anticipated threequel, which again finds Jack Black lending his voice to protagonist Po.
This time around, Po, long thought to be the only surviving panda in a wild land of animal warriors, stumbles across his father, Li, who reveals the existence of an entire panda village. Overjoyed, Po finally reunites with his people, getting to know pops (voiced by Breaking Bad‘s Bryan Cranston, who’ll reportedly be trying to fit “I am the danger” somewhere into the script) and meeting cute with a female panda named Mei Mei (Rebel Wilson), who is fascinated by ribbon dancing.
Black told USA Today:
“There is great joy. Lo and behold, there’s a secret panda village. There’s intense rejoicing as I am reunited with my people. There are even cute baby pandas. Those guys are going to be the life of the party, for sure.”
This new exposure to Po’s species leads to tension between him and his adopted duck father Mr. Ping (James Hong), but the real struggle comes when a villain named Kai sweeps across the nation, defeating kung fu masters and leaving Po with no other choice but to train a bumbling village of his brethren into kung fu pandas. It all sounds very well and good, and it’s not like the young audience of Kung Fu Panda 3 is going to complain about a somewhat traditional family-reunion plot.
Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, David Cross and Lucy Liu are confirmed to be reprising their roles as various martial artist animals who took Po under their wing in the previous two installments.
Kung Fu Panda 3 opens January 29, 2016.
