| |
Is that the familiar Pink Panther theme? Or is it the sound of Peter Sellers rolling over in his grave?
If you are familiar with the original Pink Panther movie series by Blake Edwards (started in 1963), this Pink Panther is publicized to be the prequel to the original series and shows how the story really started. This movie takes place in modern time, and is a different story line than the original series, so rather than a prequel, this is more accurately a remake. In this Pink Panther, a world famous French soccer coach is murdered by a poisonous dart and the enormous pink panther diamond he was carrying has disappeared. Chief Inspector Dreyfus (Kevin Kline) devises a plan to become the nation’s hero. He hires the blundering Inspector Jacques Clouseau (Steve Martin) to publicly investigate the case while Dreyfus secretly plans to find the murderer himself and retrieve the diamond. Among Clouseau’s 27, 280 suspects are the murdered man’s girlfriend Xania (Beyonce), the soccer team’s trainer Yuri, and a Chinese woman who speaks no English. In traditional oblivious Clouseau style, he fumbles, bumbles, falls and trips his way into solving the mystery. During his escapades, he takes on his partner (Jean Reno) in hand-to-hand combat, he works with a secret agent, he blends into the background and he unexpectedly finds love.
Obvious blasphemy aside, Steve Martin does a surprisingly decent job resurrecting the beloved Inspector Clouseau. For whatever reason, early in the movie the inspector’s harsh (aka “French”) accent and girlish (aka “French”) mannerisms are pretty much annoying, and his clumsy pranks are unimaginative and poorly done. However, as the movie progresses, one starts to notice intricate, and perhaps ingenuous, details in Martin’s portrayal. The jokes become more sophisticated and original, the timing more precise, and - in the end - the story even comes together; all making for a rather delightful experience overall. So, if you can somehow shake that nagging feeling that you’re cheating on Peter Sellers, Pink Panther could very well be a movie you wouldn’t want to miss.
|
| |
On the Movie Night Traffic Light on a scale of GREEN meaning “Go – it’s a must see”, YELLOW meaning “Caution – it’s okay” and RED meaning “No - stop don’t do it."
We rate The Pink Panther GREEN. Go – this movie may not appeal to die hard fans of the original series, but for Steve Martin fans, this is good stuff. |
