Curse of the Pink Panther

Considering that "Curse of the Pink Panther" is a relatively recent film, it looks surprisingly dated. No wonder, since it's filled with stale jokes and visual gags that have already been executed in previous "Pink Panther" entries. Harmless and good-natured but completely unimaginative and mostly unfunny, this comedy may help you kill two hours, but it may also irritate you because of its exploiting the images of many of the series' stars just to gain some "dignity" as a film. Moore's cameo appearance at the end is indeed funny, but personally I've always known than Moore has a great comic flair.

While this is not quite the train wreck that TRAIL OF THE PINK PANTHER was, it's still a pretty weak entry in the PANTHER series. Ted Wass is bland and ineffectual; when I watch him here I keep thinking of how much better this movie could have been if most of his scenes were acted or directed differently. One of the few times he made me laugh was when he was doing the voice for his "instant companion." The "new Clouseau" at the end was an interesting touch -- not convincing, exactly, but funny. In hindsight, if Blake Edwards really wanted to wrap up the series after Sellers' death, I think it would have been better if he combined the "using deleted Sellers scenes" concept from TRAIL with the "searching for Clouseau" concept from CURSE into just one movie, and left it at that.

This series should have been killed after this unfunny return with the always annoying Wass, attempting...and boy is he attempting...to fill the shoes of late great Peter Sellers. You don't even have to see the film to know it can't be done. Niven looks tired in his final role and the rest of the cast looks bored, with a feeling that they've been down this road way too many times.

I admit I checked out this movie with low expectations, more out of completism than anything else. Actually, it wasn't as bad as expected, but though the slapstick scenes are good, the rest of the movie is blah. Inspector Clouseau is a man who acts dignified despite all his bumbling and pratfalls; Clifton Sleigh has the pratfalls but nothing else. I got the idea that what happened in the end was that Clouseau ended up going bad and ended up stealing the Pink Panther diamond for himself (though it would be stolen in turn by The Phantom-David Niven reprising his role as best as his ill health would allow). I suppose Clouseau's career as a policeman would have to end somehow for the intended replacement to take over, but I was hoping for better than this.

inspector Cleaseau is off somewhere searching for the Pink Panther diamond so in the meantime, Chief Inspector Dreyfuss programs a computer to find his replacement,, but instead of picking the best qualified detective he programs the computer to pick the worst detective,, so from NYC comes a bumbling idiot you would think is closeau's American cousin,, i'm sure Dreyfuss is going ape now that he has met the police officer,,, Roger Moore has a cameo in the end of the movie that's pretty cool,, This was David Niven's last film,, I really liked him throughout his work on some of the Pink Panther movies,, alothough obviously not the strongest panther movie,, certainly not the weakest.

After watching the predecessor of this film, I can see that the series has found new life where it once lay dieing just a year before. Now, we know that Clouseau is missing, but is he dead? That is the question they asked themselves. Ted Wass comes aboard in this sequel, and somehow, he makes it work. Reminding us that Clouseau may be gone, but people just like him are still bumbling fools. Sent on an assignment from Dreyfus, the Inspector from new York tries everything he knows to find Clouseau. Eureka!! Clouseau is alive, or is he? Roger Moore guest stars as an altered Clouseau, who we find out, might just be the thief of the Pink Panther diamond from "Trail of the Pink Panther." A horrible end to Clouseau's name in pop culture. The film gets 9 of 10. Will Pink Panther live on? Time will tell.