Feb 15 2009
The Pink Panther
I’m old school and what first comes to mind when I think about the Pink Panther is the cartoon I watched as a kid and then the more titillating Blake Edwards, Peter Sellers, Pink Panther incarnation.
So when I see Steve Martin, whom I like quite a bit, very diverse in the many different roles he’s played, I don’t see it working. I watch the trailer and say, WHY? Why go there? It’s been done and the trailers make me cringe! Steve Martin is making my toes curl, with the same french accent he made so funny, years ago!
Steve Martin made me howl when he used that fake french accent and said, omelet du fromage, followed by the french have a different word for everything! on his album Wild and Crazy Guy album.
So did somebody say, “hey don’t you think Steve Martin’s french accent is so funny lets remake the classic Pink Panther.”
Anyway I never saw the first remake of the Pink Panther and probably wouldn’t go to see Pink Panther 2 except it’s a movie the kids wanted to see and it looked pretty kid friendly. It’s Steve Martin afterall. And, Andy Garcia, Jean Reno, John Cleese, Lily Tomlin, Alfred Molina. Not to mention lookers like Emily Mortimer and Aishwarya Rai are pleasing to the eye.
This is what I can say: It was enjoyable enough for the whole family and I don’t regret it at all. Insp. Jacques Clouseau’s rendition (not to be confused with sending enemies of the state to countries to be questioned / detained…) by Steve Martin was okay. The Clouseau character was written well and I liked some of his traits—he actually had some talent, not just tripping over the clue. The supporting cast was also good—we like all those actors and they did an okay job. The story was also okay. The wine bottle scene was very well done and entertainingly funny.
I still liked the old school versions of Peter Sellers Insp. Jacques Clouseau better and the earlier iterations of Blake Edwards Pink Panther better too—they went too far in the later ones, but for the whole family Pink Panther 2 was—okay.
—iChef Cinema
PS. I also like Steve Martin being Steve Martin funny versus Steve Martin being Peter Sellers funny.
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