At the Movies with Fatwayne

Even though this is the second installment of the new PP series starring Steve Martin, I have to admit that to me, Peter Sellers IS  Inspector Jacques Clouseau. I will always remember the scene in which Sellers walks into a small hotel and notices a dog laying on the floor.  He asks the man behind the counter “does your dog bite” (in his ridiculous French accent). The man replys “no, my dog does not bite”. Hearing this, Sellers reaches down to pet the dog only to be immediately bitten.  Turning to the man again he says “I thought you said that you dog does not bite”!  The man replies “that is not my dog”!  Oh well, I guess you just had to be there!

For the series to go on after Seller’s death a new Inspector Clouseau had to be found. Let’s be fair and not compare the old with the new. I found that Steve Martin is beginning to fit in quite nicely as Clouseau. He seems to have gotten the goofy accent down to the point that you sometimes have to listen quite closely to understand him. He is also very good with the pratfalls and other nonsense that plagues the good Inspector.

This time out we have a master thief called the Tornado stealing all of the worlds great artifacts including the Pink Panther. Trying to catch this villian is too much for one detective and so a “dream team” of the world’s greatest sleuths is formed including Clouseau. It doesn’t take long for him to get on everyone’s nerves from Chief Inspector Dryfous to the Pope himself!

The movie is full of Jacques Clouseau ‘isms’. He asks the Pope if he knows where his big pointy hat is. After the Pope replies negatively, Clouseau says “then I am probably sitting on it! I thought I felt a little tweep”!  Want another one? Upon recovering the Pope’s stolen ring he says “ah, the Pope’s ring. His wife will be happy to have that back”!  OK, just one more. To a late arriving member of the dream team he says “Now let me bring you up to speed … we know nothing! You are now up to speed!”

Pink Panther movies all share the same basic plot. Some of the old characters remain throughout but with different actors portraying them. The new foils for Clouseau include Andy Garcia, John Cleese, Alfred Molina, Lily Tomlin and Jeremy Irons. They all add their considerable talents to make things entertaining for us.

This is one of those films that  you can enjoy with the kids and, in fact, having them along and watching them react to all this silliness could make it even more enjoyable. Being a kid at heart, I give it a thumbs up!

Quotes from The Pink Panther 2 are posted at http://www.tvmoviequotes.com/thepinkpanther2.htm

Rating  – PG -

Fatwayne’s rating   – -