Normally when there is a sequel to a film, the first film was popular enough that it makes financial sense to do go to the well once more to see if more money can be squeezed out of the moviegoers. Even if the film wasn’t a hit with the populace, a sequel may be justified financially if the first was a great but overlooked film. It makes no sense however, to proceed with a sequel for a film which was neither successful at the box office nor artistically. Which brings us to The Pink Panther 2.
Film
if it weren’t for the fact that the title had already been taken, rather than being entitled The Pink Panther 2, the better title for this film would have been Dumb and Dumber. You may want to throw dumbest in there as well. While I was a big fan of the original Pink Panther films starring Peter Sellers, I was not a fan of the remake starring Steve Martin. Nor was I alone.
The film did not do well at the box office and was a painful film to watch. A comedy is supposed, after all, to be funny, and The Pink Panther simply wasn’t. Juvenile is more like it. In that regard, The Pink Panther 2 brings us more of the same. It stars Steve Martin as the bumbling Inspector Jacques Clouseau, out to crack another big case.
The film opens with the thefts of a few of the art world’s prized possessions. A dream team of the world’s best detectives is brought in the solve the case. The plot is remarkably like the first in the it involves the theft of the Pink Panther diamond and Clousteau is publicly humiliated until he comes back in and saves the day.
Even more shocking that the fact that the film was even made, is the fact that they could get Andy Garcia, Alfred Molina, Lily Tomlin and John Cleese to co-star in it. I guess Kevin Kline who had co-starred in the first film learned his lesson and had had enough. While there are a couple of laughs in the film, they are few and far between. If you have nothing better to do or really want to see a train wreck of a film, rent The Pink Panther 2. Otherwise, I would skip it entirely.
Video
While I didn’t like the film one bit, I loved this transfer which looks way better than it should. The film features a bright and bold color palette with bright, bold and well saturated primary colors and deep and inky blacks. The color palette is fairly natural but at times does skew a bit towards the color cyan. Image detail is excellent as well, with along with the deep and stable blacks, results in an image of great depth and three dimensionality. I was able to detect no evidence of digital noise reduction or edge enhancement. Quite simply, there is very little to quibble with about the look of the film, it is that good, although not quite up there with the best of the best. The subject matter is another story entirely.
Audio
All in all, the audio on The Pink Panther 2 is more than respectable. The high point of the audio for me is the theme music which sounds great with real punch and dynamics. The overall sound of the film is quite nice also with a smooth and fairly open character. The dialogue track is also well recorded and well placed in the sound mix. You can hear each and every syllable of dialogue which is normally a good thing but not so much with this script! Surprisingly, the surrounds are rather actively engaged throughout, giving the film a nice sense of immersion, during both the interior as well as the exterior scenes. Where the encode fell a bit short for me was in the level of transparency and imaging, as a result of which, the sound lacked the depth of the better sounding films. However, for a comedy, the sound was more than acceptable.
Special Features
For the most part, the extras related to the film here are nothing spectacular. Included along with the film on Disc 1 are the rather predictable and pedantic gag reel and two featurettes, Drama is Easy… Comedy in Disguise and A Dream Team Like No Other, featuring behind the scenes looks at the film and cast. Disc 3 contains a digital copy of the film compatible with Macs and PCs. It is disc 2 that contains the real gems here and the only reason I can think of to own this release namely 27 classic Pink Panther cartoons that I enjoyed watching on TV as a kid, which all together, run about three full hours. I would have preferred true HD versions of the cartoons, but these will more than do.
Final Thoughts
If you are a fan of The Pink Panther, I would stick to the original films as The Pink Panther 2 just doesn’t make the grade. I can’t think of two less satisfying Steve Martin films that his two Pink Panther releases, unless you want to own the 27 Pink Panther cartoons included with this release, this is a release that you may want to skip entirely.
