When millionaire Benjamin Ballon's (George Sanders) chauffeur is murdered in his own home Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers) is assigned to the case. But will France's most inept detective be able to find out the identity of the killer?
I watched the original Pink Panther film a couple of years ago and I hated it with a passion (I found it lazy, unfunny and dull). I watched this sequel (with some trepidation) as I remember reading some reviews where others had advised that the sequel was the better of the 2 films and I have to admit that I agree with those people...
In fairness, the sequel does share some problems as the first film (there are some rather obvious and lazy sight gags that aren't particularly funny and that don't really work). However, unlike the first film I did feel that this film wasn't entirely reliant on sight gags - the script is better than the first film and the story is more engaging - it has a gentle playfulness about it which made it fairly enjoyable to watch. There were also moments in this film that genuinely had me laughing such as when Clouseau attempts to bash a door down but someone opens it resulting in him running right through the room and falling out of the window and crashing into a swimming pool below him or the numerous times his failed disguises ended up getting him unintentionally arrested.
Aside from not all of the sight gags working the film does have some other weaknesses; the set-up at the start was a little long and perhaps could have been trimmed slightly. The scenes where Cato was attacking Clouseau weren't all that funny and seemed to be randomly thrown in here and there for no particular reason. It was a good idea giving Clouseau a sidekick, but as Hercule I felt that Graham Stark underplayed the role far too much (almost to the point where his contribution is barely memorable). I don't blame him for this, but feel that Blake Edwards perhaps allowed Sellers to be too dominant meaning that Stark and Sellers were never able to develop much in the way of workable chemistry.
Still faults aside this is still a fairly enjoyable effort and is a huge improvement on the first film. Oh yes and the opening credits were also imaginative and fairly amusing.
I watched the original Pink Panther film a couple of years ago and I hated it with a passion (I found it lazy, unfunny and dull). I watched this sequel (with some trepidation) as I remember reading some reviews where others had advised that the sequel was the better of the 2 films and I have to admit that I agree with those people...
In fairness, the sequel does share some problems as the first film (there are some rather obvious and lazy sight gags that aren't particularly funny and that don't really work). However, unlike the first film I did feel that this film wasn't entirely reliant on sight gags - the script is better than the first film and the story is more engaging - it has a gentle playfulness about it which made it fairly enjoyable to watch. There were also moments in this film that genuinely had me laughing such as when Clouseau attempts to bash a door down but someone opens it resulting in him running right through the room and falling out of the window and crashing into a swimming pool below him or the numerous times his failed disguises ended up getting him unintentionally arrested.
Aside from not all of the sight gags working the film does have some other weaknesses; the set-up at the start was a little long and perhaps could have been trimmed slightly. The scenes where Cato was attacking Clouseau weren't all that funny and seemed to be randomly thrown in here and there for no particular reason. It was a good idea giving Clouseau a sidekick, but as Hercule I felt that Graham Stark underplayed the role far too much (almost to the point where his contribution is barely memorable). I don't blame him for this, but feel that Blake Edwards perhaps allowed Sellers to be too dominant meaning that Stark and Sellers were never able to develop much in the way of workable chemistry.
Still faults aside this is still a fairly enjoyable effort and is a huge improvement on the first film. Oh yes and the opening credits were also imaginative and fairly amusing.