Inspired by a real-life reunion

Bryan Cranston recalls how he tracked down his own dad

Bryan Cranston had a serious shock when he first saw his livin’-large panda character, Li, from Kung Fu Panda 3.

“I thought: ‘Is that what you think of me? Am I that fat? How dare you!’ ” Cranston says. “Then I chomped down on an éclair.”

It’s perfect method acting for the new character Cranston voices in the third installment of the Dream Works Animation franchise. Li likes his food.

“My character has a voracious appetite,” Cranston says.

In fact, it’s after setting a dumpling-eating record that Li finds his lost panda son, Po (Jack Black), who has always believed his panda village had been wiped out.

Po has been enthusiastically undertaking the disciplined training to become a martial arts Dragon Warrior while his father Li has been living the good, lazy life of the panda bear.

“Li is the master of chilling,” Black says. “He’s a really funny, jovial dude who loves to play. He’s the dream dad.”

There’s an element of sadness in the reunion as Li’s wife (Po’s mother) has died, which Po learned about in 2011’s Kung

Fu Panda 2 — a loss that set Li on his solo mission.

“That was my promise to her, that I would find Po,” Cranston says. “It’s a father’s quest to be reunited with his son.” This reunification is something Cranston can relate to. His own father, actor Joe Cranston, left his family when Cranston was 12. At 22, Cranston tracked him down to reconnect.

“It’s quite interesting. When he left, I was a boy. When I reacquainted with him, I was a man. The entire chunk of my teenage years were gone. There was a tremendous amount of contrition on his part and then forgiveness. It ran the whole gamut of emotions.”

Cranston maintained the relationship until his father died last October at age 90. He was able to use his past as part of his actor’s “tool kit” for the role.

“You end up humanizing it, despite it being the animal you see on the screen,” he says. The project has given the

Breaking Bad star another opportunity to flex some comic chops, as he did notably for six years as Hal in Malcolm in the Middle. Cranston is still in the studio recording the evolving character, who has become “more playful” the more he has worked on it.

“I’m actually going to pitch using a Breaking Bad quote in the movie. A cookie for the adult viewers,” Cranston says.

“Maybe my character will say ‘Say my name.’ ”

DREAMWORKS ANIMATION Mei Mei (voiced by Rebel Wilson) has skills beyond ribbon dance — she’s also handy with a pair of nunchuks.

DREAMWORKS ANIMATION Po ( left, voiced by Jack Black) poses for a portrait with his long-lost panda father, Li (Bryan Cranston), in Kung Fu Panda 3.

WIREIMAGE Cranston is in the studio refining his character, so don’t be surprised if the panda quotes a familiar TV meth dealer.