Pink Panther 2, The (Blu-ray)

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Like many, I grew up knowing of "The Pink Panther" from the animated pink feline and the Blake Edwards´ films starring the late and great Peter Sellers. Younger audiences are being introduced to the "Pink Panther" universe through the talent of a watered down and kid-friendly Steve Martin. The franchise reboot was launched in February 2006 and did very well with Martin taking over as bumbling French detective Jacques Clouseau. That effort spawned this sequel, simply titled "The Pink Panther 2" and reunited Martin, Jean Reno and Emily Mortimer in a poorly received and poorly performing picture that focused more on bland physical comedy and amateurish political correctness gags to try and morph Clouseau into a character that is better fitting to Martin´s talents and more appealing to a broader audience. Unfortunately, the resulting effort is a pink dud.

This sequel begins with a series of priceless treasures being stolen by a master thief who had been retired. The man known as The Tornado has stolen the Magna Carta document, the Turin Shroud and the Japanese Imperial Sword. His next target is believed to be France´s priceless Pink Panther gem and Inspector Dreyfus (John Cleese) is asked by the International Police to put detective Jacques Cousteau (Martin) on the case to work with a ´dream team´ of detectives who will discover the identity of the Tornado and return the valuable objects that have turned up missing. The problem is that Cousteau has been placed on traffic detail by Dreyfus and the Chief Inspector does not want Cousteau anywhere near this international dream team.

Eventually, Clouseau manages to fumble his way onto the so-called Dream Team. The team includes British Chief Inspector Randall Pepperidge (Alfred Molina), Italian Inspector Vicenzo Brancaleone (Andy Garcia), Japanese electronics expert Kenji Mazuto (Yuki Matsuzaki) and sexy criminology expert Sonia Solandres (Aishwarya Rai). Tagging along with Cousteau are his friend and sidekick, gendarme Gilbert Ponton (Jean Reno) and his secretary and possible love interest Nicole Durant (Emily Mortimer). Additionally, Yvette Berenger (Lily Tomlin) is hired by the French police to assist Cousteau with his infamous inability to adhere to political correctness and tries to keep him from ogling lovely young ladies and using racial stereotypes and terms. The team quickly butts heads and egos, but goes to work trying to uncover the identity of the Tornado.

As the film continues on with poor gag after poor gag, Cousteau´s inept ability to do anything causes problems. He is more of a hindrance to the Dream Team than he is of help and they first believe that art dealer Alonso Avellaneda (Jeremy Irons) is possibly the Tornado and Clouseau nearly destroys his house while snooping around. Cousteau and Vincenzo become romantic rivals for Nicole, who loves Cousteau but cannot get the French Inspector to publically show affection for her as he feels it would not be professional. The Pink Panther is eventually stolen and Cousteau becomes a poster child for stupidity as the Dream Team fails to stop the Tornado. They have a run-in with the Pope and everything goes topsy-turvy when the Tornado is found dead by apparent suicide and leaves a note claiming that he destroyed the priceless Pink Panther gem.

I could sit through the first "Pink Panther" film starring Martin and almost enjoy myself. It wasn´t painful, but it was nothing nearly as enjoyable as those old Blake Edwards´ movies. Martin is a capable comedian and while his take on Cousteau was different, it was funny. This further departure that occurs in the second film finds Martin relying far too heavily on sight gags and physical comedy to entertain and "The Pink Panther 2" moves further into absurdity. It is almost insulting to watch, but the true insult comes when veteran actor Jean Ren is pushed into becoming a near shell of a man who has so much man love for Cousteau that it nearly has me weep while holding my copy of "Leon: The Professional." Reno is such an awesome actor, that the true insult of this sequel is his inclusion in this horrendous sequel.

With so much acting talent, it is sorrowful that "The Pink Panther 2" wasn´t a better film. I´ve already expressed my displeasure of how they use Reno. However, Andy Garcia and Alfred Molina are two other very good actors that deserve better. They fit their characters and each of the supporting cast does absolutely wonderful in their roles, but just as the Dream Team is hindered by Cousteau´s antics in the film, the character hinders the performances of the strong supporting cast. Lily Tomlin was very good. John Cleese is masterful as always and I love Emily Mortimer as Nicole. Unfortunately, I am so steadfast against enjoying this second outing by Steve Martin as Detective Jacques Cousteau that I can hardly enjoy anything else in this film. The talent in this film is truly wasted.

In the end, if you want to enjoy a film featuring the characters created by Blake Edwards you should ignore these modern updates and go find a copy of the first film starring Peter Sellers. The sequels featuring the late funnyman are still better than these two films with Steve Martin taking over as the fumbling Frenchman and you can enjoy those films again and again. The first "The Pink Panther" picture can be watched once or twice, but that would be once or twice too many times to sit through "The Pink Panther 2." These films are now a disgrace to the work done by Edwards and Sellers and Martin should return to doing films for the whole family and leave Cousteau alone. I hear rumors of a third film and I hope the poor box office performance of this first sequel keeps that from ever happening. This film is just not good.