Pink Panther (2006)
Steve Martin in the role of a lifetime – just not his own
Tags: Pink Panther DVD Categories: DVD/TV Reviews, Reviews
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Feb 6th, 2009
The first time I laughed during the remake of The Pink Panther starring Steve Martin was about the 30 minute mark. “Not even a small pair of pumps?” was a throwaway line but delivered in a way that was genuinely funny, not like the rest of the forced humor the film employs. Steve Martin is a funny man, but he is not Clouseau.
You know, I actually wish that Kevin Kline had been placed in the role of Inspector Clouseau instead of as his boss. There are some great comedic possibilities with the character that Kline is able to extract, but he would have been far better in the main role.
Inserting a James Bond parody in the film also shows just how desperate everybody is to stay relevant and force more humor where it isn’t necessary. There’s a scene involving a vocal coach that simply screams in large neon letters “THIS IS FUNNY!” which just doesn’t work. Most of the film is simply inappropriate losing most of what made the original worth remaking. Then again, the original series of films was wildly uneven with the quality ranging from brilliant to horrible, sometimes within the same film.
I wanted to enjoy The Pink Panther, and held out hopes, though I did expect the worst. Sadly, my worst fears were realized. This remake from 2006 just doesn’t live up to the title or characters. Certainly its worth watching for fans of Steve Martin, Kevin Kline, Jean Reno or the most diehard Pink Panther fans who have watched Curse of the Pink Panther more than once (yeah, you know who you are).
Now on Blu-ray, we get all of the special features that were present on the DVD release, but now there’s a Blu-ray exclusive trivia track. This is a “pop-up” style affair with animated characters coming onto the screen and presenting various bits of info. Sadly the bits of trivia are rather few and far between to make it not worth the upgrade on its own strength if you already own the DVD.
As for those previously released special features, we start off with an audio commentary by director Shawn Levy who is far more self-congratulatory than the film warrants. A number of deleted and extended scenes are also present, with optional commentary by Levy. Some of the extra scenes are worth seeing, but even the best ones don’t add much to the film.
A few featurettes are actually quite decent considering the film in question, and a music video and extended musical piece from the film are decent inclusions as well. Interesting (at least for film buffs) are the “spy cams” where we get to watch the filming of a couple of scenes.
Really, as far as the content on the Blu-ray goes, The Pink Panther does a good job, but the movie itself just doesn’t live up to its name or stars. It’s nice watching Steve Martin get back to his zany roots but it’s just too bad it was with this.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
| + Steve Martin can be quite funny | 3.0 |
| What Doesn't | |
| - Martin is not Clouseau - Kevin Kline would have been better in the role - Jean Reno is underused - Much of the humor is strained or simply not funny | |
| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| Well, if you gotta, you might as well get the Blu-ray. If you already have the DVD there isn't much reason to upgrade. | |
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Tags: Pink Panther DVD
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Feb 6th, 2009 and is filed under DVD/TV Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
