As most other kids around 10 years old, I never understood what exactly makes a movie generally good. If it kept my attention and entertained me, I loved it. I was also a sucker for anything animated or silly. So, many bad movies entered my life before I could think a bit more critically of them.
Not only that, but my sister loved watching movies with me and I loved watching them with her. Our tastes may have been different, but we have found a good number of movies together. One of them is the not-so-popular 2006 remake of the “Pink Panther” mystery films. Filled to the bone with slapstick humor, the Pink Panther films left a legacy in the realm of murder-mystery and comedy.
Yes, we are thinking of the same Pink Panther character, but before the cartoons, the Pink Panther was a mascot for a series of mystery-comedies revolved around a pink jewel of the same name. Incompetent detective Jacques Clouseau is tasked in finding the Pink Panther diamond before the villain among his suspects takes off with it. The franchise started in 1963 and returned with sequels in uneven frequencies across its history, with the last one releasing in 1993 when film producer Robert Simonds took “The Pink Panther” out of its 13-year absence.
Written by and starring legendary comedian Steve Martin, “The Pink Panther” follows the same concept of its predecessors: someone has stolen the Pink Panther diamond. With a few key players dropping dead like flies, it is up to Jacques Clouseau (Martin) to find the diamond and apprehend the killer.
The film launched in theaters on February 10, 2006, through Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 20th Century Fox, and Columbia Pictures, but was greeted with many negative reviews from critics. Some even made complaints about Steve Martin’s portrayal of Jacques Clouseau, stating that he didn’t seem to understand the character known from the franchise’s golden years. Nevertheless, “The Pink Panther” (2006) went on to make almost double its budget back and returned with a sequel, “The Pink Panther 2,” three years later.
I had not seen “The Pink Panther” for quite some time, but I have fond memories of my sister and I quoting the movie like crazy. Of course, as children, we only worry about keeping our attention and holding it by being funny. Time to look at it a little more critically.
No, “The Pink Panther” is not a good movie, but it’s also not a bad one. There isn’t anything incredibly unique in camerawork or tech, not even the acting. Again, it’s not bad, and it isn’t good. But I have to argue against the critics on this one because of Steve Martin.
What movie-goers have a tendency to do is compare and contrast sequels and remakes to their counterparts. I find myself doing this from time to time as well. To make use of more recent events, take a look at the upcoming “Ghostbusters” reboot releasing in a few weeks. Many people have expressed their hatred for the new one because it looks nothing like the old one. It’s scarier. It’s not as funny. It looks like “Scary Movie” took over the project. What no one seems to try and do is treat reboots as their own thing. Sometimes, it’s not necessary to be like the last series. The reboot could be an experiment to take on new challenges, switch up the formula, or revitalize an actor’s career like “Iron Man” (2008) did for Robert Downey, Jr.
And that’s what “The Pink Panther” is for Steve Martin. It didn’t exactly take him out of a rut, but it was simply a project that let him perform. His depiction of Jacques Clouseau was awkward, goofy, and idiotic. It may not have been classic Jacques Clouseau, but it’s a Clouseau that I can still laugh at. Martin’s Clouseau is the person we know who is over-confident to try and impress others. Throughout “The Pink Panther,” Clouseau takes out two car bumpers while trying to parallel park with a smart car, accuses a dog, baby, and the victim of an unrelated murder for said murder, and sets fire to a hotel room with a flaming martini and Viagra pill. That’s just a pinch of screw-ups we see Clouseau make, and it makes “The Pink Panther” an entertaining film.
Is it like the original films? Probably not, but that’s not what “The Pink Panther” is trying to be. It’s trying to be its own modern slapstick comedy, and it works when you look at the film as its own thing. The relationship between 1963 Pink Panther and 2006 Pink Panther is like that of a disapproving father and his opposite minded son; the father expects his son to take over the family business until he finds out the son wants to become a lawyer instead.
Yes, it has its flaws, but when looked at as its own movie, “The Pink Panther” (2006) is enjoyable and hilarious. “The Pink Panther” gets three stolen dusty diamonds out of five.
