The Pink Panther [DVD]

Nice entertainment for the family movie evening, but split opinion across the viewers; Our daughter thinks this is one of the most funny movies ever. And has seen it several times now. Well, she has a pretty poor taste of humour and there is rarely anything that makes her laugh. Then my wife hates this movie while she typically cracks up with every silly cheap joke. Her issue is that she can’t stand Steve Martin. I kind of liked it but I grew up with Peter Seller’s classic inspector Clouseau movies, that are slower and grainy but much more authentic slap stick. Our youngest who would typically like such movies was barely entertained by it.So mixed reviews. Still I’m glad I bought it and to have it in our HD Prime video library as my daughter will want to see it again in the near future. Although I thought the quality of the picture - the colours and sharpness was a bit off.So what to make of it? It is a decent I suppose early-2000’s movie. The storyline about a murder mystery is somewhat engaging but thin and therefore easy to follow for younger viewers. I still think the original Pink Panther story was good enough. Some of the jokes are great and hilarious. And the acting is sufficient I suppose for the type of movie. Yes,Kevin Kline is a far cry from the brilliant neurotic and disturbed as the original Dreyfus (and Cato, the highly of every Clouseau movie has been left out!). Beyonce is an accessory. While Clouseau’s French assistant Jean Reno is quite probably giving the best performance of the lot.To be frank, it is good family entertainment for a little less than 2 hours, but that is about it.

NB: As is their wont, Amazon have bundled together various reviews for different releases and different films. This review refers to the standalone disc of Steve Martin's first Pink Panther film.The latest and least unsuccessful post-Peter Sellers incarnation of The Pink Panther isn't a particularly good movie, but it's certainly a lot better than Blake Edwards last three disastrous bloody-minded attempts to prove that he was the genius of the series and didn't need Sellers (who, to be fair, had he lived was planning to pull the same crap on Edwards by replacing him with Clive Donner). Steve Martin certainly doesn't make the part his own but at least he fares better than Roberto Begnini, though the accent is wrong in all the unfunny ways. It doesn't need to be a Sellers impression, but remotely amusing would have been nice, especially since director Shawn Levy hasn't a clue how to stage a decent pratfall, rendering much of the physical comedy lukewarm. Along with being the only one of the series not to be shot in Scope, most of the old faithful setups of the series are discarded - Kevin Kline's rather flat Dreyfuss isn't trying to kill Clouseau all the time (no nervous tic or accidental dismemberment either) and Kato isn't constantly attacking him (though this is reworked as Clouseau constantly attempting to attack his assistant, who effortlessly pre-empts him every time) - with not enough new to fill in the void they leave. Indeed, in a sign of its troubled post-production that saw it shelved for the best part of a year, one of the one of the funniest scenes (a surreal airplane sequence that has nothing to do with the plot) got deleted, as did Dreyfuss' motive for bringing in Clouseau to the case, but at least they're both in the DVD extras.Sadly, Jean Reno is almost entirely wasted as Clouseau's sidekick in the film. Looking like he's just had plastic surgery (it's easy to understand why he avoids the clean shaven look, it's scary in a faceless man kind of way), his only genuinely funny moment is a brief dance routine, which at least puts him one up on the one of the film's unbilled guest stars. In a cameo as a thinly disguised James Bond ("006. You know what that means?" "You're one away from the big time?"), Clive Owen proves that while he may have all the dramatic ability of a block of wood with woodworm when it comes to `serious' films, when it comes to comedy he's even worse (think Charlton Heston in trying-to-prove-he-has-a-sense-of-humor mode, only much worse). His delivery of even the simplest lines is astonishingly stilted even by his standards, making you wonder if he's unable to speak English unless it's spelt out for him phonetically. Still, if nothing else his leaden touch proves what an unmitigated catastrophe he would have been as 007, and it's a fairly brief moment in a film that's watchable with a few laughs. There's no reason to watch it other than completism, but there's a lot worse out there.

When I first heard about this film I was dubious as I am usually am about remakes but when seeing this film I realised it was not striclty a remake but a retake old the old classics ones and to be honest I found it a very enjoyable and funny film and have ordere the second film, so like many other reviewers who have liked this wonder why others have slated it.

Steve Martin as Inspector Clouseau, I wasn't sure if it would work, but as usual Steve Martin made this a very funny movie.

Most remakes of older movies lack something, but this one isn't too bad.

No one can quite match Peter Sellers but Steve Martin does a good job in the style of the man himself. If you just want an evening's simple entertainment this fits the bill.

Brilliant mad stuff . Just my humour . Dvd came on time and great condition as promises. No complaints. Thank You.

So funny Steve Martin at his best loved this film