credit: www.amazon.com
Director:
Shawn Levy
Cast:
Steve Martin …. Inspector Jacques Clouseau
Kevin Kline …. Chief Inspector Dreyfus
Beyoncé Knowles …. Xania
Jean Reno …. Gendarme Gilbert Ponton
Clive Owen …. Nigel Boswell/Agent 006 (uncredited)
MGM/Columbia Pictures presents The Pink Panther. Written by Len Blum & Steve Martin Running Time: 93 minutes. Rated PG (for occasional crude and suggestive humor and language)
The Movie:
Used to be a time when Steve Martin was pretty consistent with his movies. And with Shopgirl it looked like he might be getting back on track. However, this poor excuse of a remake shows us that Martin is not ready for a comeback of the likes of Bill Murray.
A soccer coach is killed and the famous Pink Panther diamond is stolen. Chief Inspector Dreyfus hires the bumbling Clouseau to publicly handle the case while Dreyfus himself tries to solve the case and be the true hero. Ponton is sent to “help” Clouseau while reporting back to Dreyfus. Xania was the soccer coach’s girlfriend. After much bumbling in Paris Clouseau and Ponton follow Xania to New York to question her. While there Clouseau makes a national fool of himself and is kicked off the case. Will he redeem himself and solve the case? C’mon, you know how it ends.
This film is not funny. All the jokes fall flat and are uninspired. What was Steve Martin thinking when he took on this project? And worse, he co-wrote it too. Maybe he really has lost his touch. Maybe Shopgirl was just a fluke. I hope not. And Jean Reno should have known better as well.
The most enjoyable moment in this film comes when Clouseau meets Agent 006 at a Casino. Agent 006 isn’t supposed to be there but he sees a crime happening and wants to stop it. So he borrows Clouseau’s trench coat and saves the day. Then he gives Clouseau his coat back so everyone thinks Clouseau was the hero. Clive Owen is only in the film for a few minutes but it’s a great performance. He really should have been the next Bond.
STORY: 2/10
ACTING: 4/10
LOOK/FEEL: 2/10
ORIGINALITY: 1/10
ENTERTAINMENT VALUE: 2/10
TOTAL POINTS: 11/50
FINAL SCORE: 2/10
Clouseau and Ponton meet up with Xania in New York
The DVD:
The Video:
The film is presented in Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1. The film looks fine, too bad what you’re seeing isn’t as nice.
The Audio:
This film is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround. (also has a French audio track)
Special Features:
11 Deleted & Extended Scenes: Like most deleted scenes they were done so for a reason, some not even completed. And the extended scenes are just pointless.
Beyoncé Music Video: “Check It Out”: It’s a music video… what else is there to say.
Exclusive Beyoncé Performance: “A Woman Like Me”: This is the complete performance of song heard partly in the film.
Alternate Opening Sequence: This is an alternate computer animated opening sequence that is pretty cool to watch. Part of it exists on the menus page but you can watch it here in full.
“Cracking The Case” Documentary: A run of the mill making of. Everyone talks about how much fun the movie was to make and why the chose to do it. They cover pretty much all the facets of the film, sets, locations, costumes, etc. If you liked the movie this might be interesting… if….
Featurettes: “Animated Trip”, Deconstructing The Panther”, “Sleuth Cams On Set”: “Animated Trip” discusses the making of the animated opening titles. You get to see some footage from the original titles, which is cool. In “Deconstructing The Panther” we get a specific making of the big climactic scene, so I won’t tell you anything as to ruin the ending, but if you’ve seen one feature like this then you know what you’re getting. “Sleuth Cams” gives you some candid fly on the wall footage of the actual filming of a few scenes which is kind of interesting if you’ve never been privy to that kind of thing.
“Think Pink”: A Sweet N Low Commercial starring the Pink Panther.
Commentary with Director Shawn Levy: You can tell Levy is really proud of his film but is also willing to point out moments that didn’t work as well as he hoped they would. Still, like most commentaries, this one is pretty boring. Where was Steve Martin? That could have been good.
Previews: Click, Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby, The Benchwarmers, Monster House, Open Season, The Legend Of Zorro, The Pink Panther Film Collection, The Pink Panther Cartoon Collection, and The Premiere Frank Capra DVD Collection… whew….
Score:4 /10
