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Techtite's DVD Reviews! |
"Hardly the worst attempt to revitalize the Inspector Clouseau comedy genre, even if, no duh, Peter Sellers was the master of classic Clouseau comedy." --from the review ------------- Sidebar :: ------------- No sidebar comments for this review. Yet... ...
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The Pink Panther (2006)
Click picture to order this DVD (Special Edition Reviewed) A Review by TechtiteAs always, a review of The Film and the DVD extras. Film Review: Yes, we know; Peter Sellers was and always will be the definitive Inspector Clouseau. Yes, we know; trying to bring back the magic of a classic Pink Panther movie is like trying to bring back The In-Laws or Fun With Dick and Jane. But can you blame Steve Martin for at least trying? In the end he isn't even half bad. All he has to do, really, is stop trying to be Peter Sellers, and be happy being Steve Martin. Its here where I must admit, flawed or not, I really liked The Pink Panther. This comes as a shock to me as much as anyone else. I heard all the urban myths about this movie long before entering the theater. I had heard of how it was originally planned as a holiday movie. I had heard of how its test screenings were so bad they had to retool the whole film, somehow. I had even heard a rumor that the entire film cast was asked to return for several scenes, that were completely redone. Which of these urban myths are true (if any) is immaterial. All I know is that my expectations were low, so I was pleasantly surprised. It's not a ringing endorsement, but please; this is no Gigli. Not by even a long shot. To be honest; it's not like a Pink Panther movie is rocket science. The fabled pink panther diamond is, of course, stolen. Enter Inspector Clouseau (Martin), who has been put on the case by chief inspector Dreyfus (Kevin Kline). However, unlike all earlier Clouseau films, there's a ruse at foot. Dreyfus has promoted Clouseau only to fool the press. There's a certain medal of honor Dreyfus has always wanted to earn, and he knows that nabbing the pink panther bandit is his ticket to the medal. So he distracts the press with the ruse that Clouseau is exclusively on the case, while Dreyfus uses his best agents to find the criminal himself, and get all the glory. Of course we already know this is a flawed plan, because bumbling bungler or not, Clouseau always gets his crook. I think the real trick to remakes these days is in knowing what parts of the original story to remake, and which parts to "re-imagine." That said, the best parts of this Pink Panther movie are the elements that were never present in a Peter Sellers Panther movie, but should have been. For one thing, Clouseau now has a detective partner named Ponton (Jean Reno), who is mostly the "straight man" for Martin's many shticks, but how often did Sellers need a similar person to bounce his jokes against? In one scene, Ponton tells Clouseau that someone was attacked, and the attack was fatal. "How fatal?" asks an oblivious Clouseau. "Completely..." muses Ponton. "I would like to interrogate him!" insists Clouseau. "He's been killed sir..." insists Ponton. "Ah-hah!" says Clouseau. Not since Sellers has anyone played an oblivious detective with such panache. Also "re-imagined": Clouseau now has an office assistant, Nicole (Emily Mortimer). This was a great idea on two fronts; one, a detective office is the perfect place for slapstick scenes galore, and second; Nicole is like the "Miss Moneypenny" to Clouseau's James Bond, only as an added joke; this "Moneypenny" is as klutzy as Clouseau. Several visual gags involve Nicole trying to get something done in the office, except she's hilariously clumsy, and they always find themselves in a compromising position. It's an old joke but it works well here. Likewise for the subtle romance subplot. This is one "Miss Moneypenny" who may get her man someday, even if that man is, well...Clouseau. Then there is Beyonce. To be honest; they really didn't use the poor girl much in this movie, mostly because Clouseau already had a detective partner (Reno) and office assistant (Mortimer) to bounce his one liners and visual gags against. Beyonce is beautiful enough to have been part of an interesting love triangle, but...no. She has been in enough movies to have been given a stronger role in this movie, but...no. You'd almost wonder if she was brought on as an affordable way to have her sing a song for the movie soundtrack, which she does, though seeing how beautiful and talented she is, not using her elsewhere is a shame. Yet being a Pink Panther movie, it was inevitable that Steve Martin would try to be Peter Sellers on occasion, which was foolish. The best parts of the movie are when you see Steve Martin as Clouseau. Steve Martin as "Peter Sellers playing Clouseau" doesn't work as well. Martin tries with all his might to roll his "R's" with as much hilarity as Sellers, with so-so results. This is a shame because someone behind the scenes drives home these moments incessantly, particularly when Clouseau tries to learn to speak with an American accept by being constantly told how to say, "I would like to buy a hamburger." In a better handled movie, the director would know when to have the speech tutor run out of the room screaming. Instead she tries in vain, endlessly, to have Clouseau say "hamburger" correctly. It's a joke that just doesn't work at all. Yet with all due respect to the late Peter Sellers, I would say that when Martin plays the role on his own terms, he does it very well. Martin has no problem playing the role of a jerk, being a comedian whose entire movie career began as "The Jerk." Martin's comedy talents are even more clear after that riotous Saturday Night Live appearance, just one week before this film's theatrical debut. He knows visual comedy and he knows funny quips. What he doesn't know is how to be Peter Sellers, which is actually unnecessary here. All he has to be is Steve Martin, and in the end, "Steve Martin as Clouseau" is pretty funny.
The DVD Extras!: Right down to the pink disc, someone had a lot of fun designing this DVD set...so much so, one wonders how much better the film would have been, had the folks behind this DVD's design had a crack at filming it. Mind you; what's reviewed here is the special edition, which makes perfect sense, given how the special edition is what you want on DVD; otherwise, you'd just wait for it on cable. That being said: the first, and most obvious extra is a music video by Beyonce, "Check On It." Without going to the extremes to confirm it; this is the song she sings near the climactic whodunit revelation of the movie. In addition is an exclusive Beyonce performance with optional commentary. The big draw to any DVD are the deleted scenes. 11 deleted or extended scenes are included, with an alternate opening sequence as well. All include optional director commentary. To be perfectly blunt however; none of these deleted scenes are highly anticipated, so they are here only for a diehard Pink Panther fan's amusement. All they really do is confirm at least one of the many stories of how many scenes were re-shot during the making of this movie. In this case, I suppose, you get to see "why" they were reshot. That's amusing enough. Documentaries include a behind the scenes documentary, an "animated trip," cameras on set, and "Deconstructing the Panther." This, along with an optional audio commentary by director Shawn Levy, shows how thorough the DVD designers were when making the disc. Too bad the film makers themselves were not as thorough, to give the potential "next generation" of Pink Panther movies the jump start they should've gotten.
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