dutchfartpolice Why is it so hard to understand that most succesfull films, especially comedic films or films build on a single character are usually just succesfull because of multiple things comming together in a certain moment in time.The original pink panther is completely build on sellers. If anyone else had played that role back then nobody would have remembered the thing and no sequals would have been made. It would have drowned in the sea of mediocracy made every year.The original cast just had the right chemistry and sellers gave the inspector a certain flair that went perfect with the time and the scripts.Martin doesn't do a bad job and the film has a couple of funny moments, but it is just a mediocre film, filler to keep the screens going in the movie theatre. If you never saw the originals you might enjoy it as an easy to watch but forgetable movie. But it certainly isn't a classic.Anyway, that's why sequals rarely come close to the original and remakes almost always disapoint. Recreating whatever made a movie so good is often just impossible. Especially when americans remake foreign movies/actors it hardly ever ends well. I wont be watching any more of the current wave of remakes, it's just not worth it.

funstuf wow, Peter Sellers must have rolled over in his grave, this was an insult to the Pink Panther franchise, Steve Martin is usually much funnier and he just was not in this movie I give it a generous 4 but it barely was that It was just really really stupid!!!! I loved the original series and too bad Sellers died so young!

TheSeaLion I have never seen the original "Pink Panther" movie starring Peter Sellers, and from my reaction to this movie, that's a good thing. Had I watched the original film first, I probably would have hated this film more. The 2006 "Pink Panther" is a dumb, pathetic comedy that tries and fails to make you laugh in so many ways that the biggest joke is that any of the writers thought they had written something funny.After the murder of the French soccer team's coach (Jason Statham) and the subsequent disappearance of his Pink Panther diamond, Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus (Kevin Kline) brings in the bumbling 'Village Idiot' police officer turned inspector, Jacques Clousseau (Steve Martin) to solve the case. Dreyfus, who is a nominee for the Medal of Honor, wants to use Clousseau as a target for the media to follow while he goes and solves the case with his best inspectors in order to win the Medal of Honor. Helping Clousseau in his investigation is Gilbert Ponton (Jean Reno), who has been ordered by Dreyfus to give him updates on Clousseau's investigation. Unintended by Dreyfus, Clousseau and Ponton form a friendship, giving Ponton reason to not want to help Dreyfus any longer. Together, they investigate a number of suspects including the coach's fiancée Xania (Beyonce Knowles), the soccer/football team's trainer Yuri (Henry Czerny), and a soccer/football player named Bizu (William Abadie).As I said, I have never seen any of the original "Pink Panther" movies, but a movie I have seen is "The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!" which this movie seems to borrow a lot from. I have no idea if the original Clousseau played by Peter Sellers was like this, but the character seemed to try and be Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen). There were a number of jokes in the movie that felt very "The Naked Gun"-esque, including Clousseau accidentally destroying Xania's bathroom by setting it on fire to Clousseau breaking a globe and letting it role around Paris. While in "The Naked Gun" those jokes would have been funny, the writers did not know how to pull them off in this movie.The plot of the movie is set in motion by the weakest character choice I may have ever seen in a movie. Dreyfus, who has been nominated seven times for the Medal of Honor and desperately wants to win it, brings Clousseau onto the case to bumble around for the media while Dreyfus and his team of good inspectors try to solve the case. Why did Dreyfus even need someone like Clousseau to keep the media's attention on? Why didn't he want the media to know he was working on the case? If there was a reason to it, wouldn't the fact that he hired a bumbling idiot like Clousseau reflect poorly on him? The entire reason for the movie's plot is based around a character's weak motivation the comes across as uncharacteristic. Also, the character of Clousseau is a bumbling idiot, and, as such, he should solve the case in the most ludicrous of ways. He's not like Maxwell Smart (Don Adams/Steve Carell) from "Get Smart" where he's occasionally bumbling, but still a good secret agent who can solve one of his cases with a level of competence. Clousseau was never shown to have any redeemable qualities as a police officer, yet at the end of the movie he is able to solve the case with a level of competence. I'd be okay with it if him solving the case competently was part of some sort of character arc, but his character has no arc.The movie does attempt to set up jokes, but they are never funny. In some cases the movie goes on and on with the joke, like with Clousseau trying to say, "I would like to buy a hamburger." In other cases, you can see the punchline coming from a mile away and when it happens it fails because you saw it coming. Then, there are the recurring jokes in the movie like Clousseau making sure no one is listening to conversations to Clousseau cutting a wire that ends up breaking something which are not funny the first time, so naturally they aren't funny the second time."The Pink Panther" is easily one of the worst movies I've ever watched in my life. The plot doesn't work, the jokes don't work, the characters don't work. Nothing works with this movie.

SnydleyDownDeep I don't understand the hate at Steve Martin for taking on the character of Clouseau. When Roger Moore took on James Bond, I'm sure people complained that he was no Sean Connery, but now we accept that many actors have played the role. Same with Batman. Did anyone compare Christian Bale with Adam West, or Michael Keton, or Val Kilmer, or George Clooney? Or do we just accept that it's a new take on a character we like. Same here. Martin's Clouseau is NOT Seller's Clouseau. If you can accept that, you'll probably enjoy the movie because it is quite hilarious in many parts. Martin's Clouseau is bumbling in a different way, not as completely inept, and Martin brings more humanity to the character than Sellers ever did. Overall I found that Martin more fully developed the character, whereas Seller's character is completely one-dimensional (but very funny, none the less). So stop the comparisons, and just enjoy the movie.