Over the years, the Pink panther series have faced dozens of "Jump the Shark" moments. I have always enjoyed the first five movies of this franchise although I agree that after a while, the movies started to get a bit weaker and become more child friendly. Even so, Peter Sellers's performance of the character "Inspector Clouseau" was enough to make any decent movie. Clouseau still remains one of the greatest characters on screen to me and it was logical that the entire plot of each film more or less revolved around that character.
After Sellers's death, several attempts were made to revive the series in the form of various movies. Each one of them was more horrific than the previous one.
Director Blake Edwards eventually decided to retire from the series. Does this mean that the presence of Sellers was essential for the creation of a new Pink Panther movie? This question was eventually answered with the release of this movie. I was already disappointed with the news that they were making another Pink Panther movie but I still gave it a chance. Basically, I think it's a bit better that Blake Edwards's last movie but that doesn't mean a lot.
The first problem of this film lies with the basic formula its-self. The Pink Panther was more than just a slapstick movie. The slapstick genre was revised with the introduction of a brilliant character which was able to turn a small problem into a chaos without being aware of it. THIS movie simply follows a chain of over the top childish old-school humor. They completely missed the point! The other reason why I think that this movie doesn't work has to do with the portrayal of the characters: Clouseau: Peter Sellers had completely mastered his own character. It was perfect. The idea of a stupid and arrogant French inspector who destroys everything seems a bit absurd but Sellers was able to create such a natural appearance that the public could soon grow accustomed to it. Sellers BECAME his own character. Steve Martin on the other hand failed to turn himself into Clouseau. His version of the character looked more like a poor impersonation. Apart from that, the French accent he used wasn't his own making him very annoying.
Ponton: What happened to Cato!? I heard the character was removed in order to avoid stereotyping. My reaction was: They still want to make a film about some fake French guy who's unable to pronounce Hamburger but they can't include an Asian guy performing martial arts because they think it's too offensive!? Dreyfus: Kevin Kline is a great comedian but his version of Dreyfus was pretty weak. Instead of doing the psychotic Dreyfus who's about to lose his mind, he played just another angry police commissioner.
Xania: Beyoncé is NOT an actress. They should have known that after seeing Austin Powers 3: Goldmember.
I might sound a bit conservative when analyzing all those characters but I think it just proves how difficult it is to repeat a a certain idea with a different formula. In this case, they intended to bring the franchise to a younger audience but took the essence out. There were only a few moments in the entire film which made me laugh but there were also lot's of sequences which almost made me cry. I'm not going to mention them.
I know that there's a sequel of this movie that has just been released. My first reaction was:'WHY!? Haven't they learned jet?' If you're a long time Pink Panther fan. I don't recommend this movie to you. Tom me, the real Pink Panther died a long time ago.
After Sellers's death, several attempts were made to revive the series in the form of various movies. Each one of them was more horrific than the previous one.
Director Blake Edwards eventually decided to retire from the series. Does this mean that the presence of Sellers was essential for the creation of a new Pink Panther movie? This question was eventually answered with the release of this movie. I was already disappointed with the news that they were making another Pink Panther movie but I still gave it a chance. Basically, I think it's a bit better that Blake Edwards's last movie but that doesn't mean a lot.
The first problem of this film lies with the basic formula its-self. The Pink Panther was more than just a slapstick movie. The slapstick genre was revised with the introduction of a brilliant character which was able to turn a small problem into a chaos without being aware of it. THIS movie simply follows a chain of over the top childish old-school humor. They completely missed the point! The other reason why I think that this movie doesn't work has to do with the portrayal of the characters: Clouseau: Peter Sellers had completely mastered his own character. It was perfect. The idea of a stupid and arrogant French inspector who destroys everything seems a bit absurd but Sellers was able to create such a natural appearance that the public could soon grow accustomed to it. Sellers BECAME his own character. Steve Martin on the other hand failed to turn himself into Clouseau. His version of the character looked more like a poor impersonation. Apart from that, the French accent he used wasn't his own making him very annoying.
Ponton: What happened to Cato!? I heard the character was removed in order to avoid stereotyping. My reaction was: They still want to make a film about some fake French guy who's unable to pronounce Hamburger but they can't include an Asian guy performing martial arts because they think it's too offensive!? Dreyfus: Kevin Kline is a great comedian but his version of Dreyfus was pretty weak. Instead of doing the psychotic Dreyfus who's about to lose his mind, he played just another angry police commissioner.
Xania: Beyoncé is NOT an actress. They should have known that after seeing Austin Powers 3: Goldmember.
I might sound a bit conservative when analyzing all those characters but I think it just proves how difficult it is to repeat a a certain idea with a different formula. In this case, they intended to bring the franchise to a younger audience but took the essence out. There were only a few moments in the entire film which made me laugh but there were also lot's of sequences which almost made me cry. I'm not going to mention them.
I know that there's a sequel of this movie that has just been released. My first reaction was:'WHY!? Haven't they learned jet?' If you're a long time Pink Panther fan. I don't recommend this movie to you. Tom me, the real Pink Panther died a long time ago.