La Vie en rose

This Academy Award-winning short was the first Pink Panther theatrical release (at least as a short subject) and is a winner on all counts. Hilarious, well animated, marvelous story and use of music-everything is wonderful. There wee other very good shorts in the series, but none of them even came close to equaling this first one. I've always felt sorry for the poor little guy in this cartoon! Most highly recommended.

Friz Freleng's phenomenally popular Pink Panther animated shorts legacy starts right here and you can see why it caught the mood of the time. A nicely minimal art style, a louche jazzy score and a straightforward and charismatic plot. This is the Oscar-winning foundation on which all of Freleng's output for the next few decades is built on and it still functions magnificently. Distilled charm.

The amiable if somewhat limited cartoon character of "The Pink Panther" was introduced in the animated opening credits of Blake Edwards' 1964 classic caper comedy of the same name; in the film proper, it was the nickname taken by cat burglar David Niven but the eventual franchise revolved around the antics of his inept nemesis Inspector Clouseau (which would soon become Peter Sellers' signature role).

In the concurrent cartoon series (which I used to watch as a kid on local TV and have subsequently acquired on DVD), the silent rosy feline took centre stage, albeit usually employed in more mundane occupations, like a house painter as in this very first instance – even if it was still pitted against a bungling, moustached albino who was Clouseau in all but name. The latter wants to paint the house in question blue and the protagonist, inevitably, wants it painted pink. The ensuing confrontation is certainly pleasant if hardly providing outstanding entertainment value, but it was enough for the short under review to cop an Academy Award.

The Pink Panther is one of animation's most iconic characters. Pink Phink was the cartoon that introduced audiences to him, and to this today it is one of the best Pink Panther cartoons ever made. The animation is simple but the colours are very pretty and the backgrounds don't look cheap. The music is very catchy, the main theme sticks in your head and in an infectious way rather than an annoying way. The jazzy orchestration is equally good. As well as well-animated and scored, Pink Phink is very funny. The story like the animation is simple but never to the point that it is predictable or dull. The gags are very creative and entertaining, never feeling repetitive. True, you do get the basic idea of what to expect with the other gags from the first gag, but each gag is dealt with in a fresh way so that is in no way a bad thing. Pink Panther himself is very cool and proof that you can be funny without having to say anything.

All in all, the introductory Pink Panther cartoon is still one of his best. 10/10 Bethany Cox

'The Pink Phink' is probably the best Pink Panther short. It is also the first one and it won on Oscar. In a building the pink panther sees a man paint everything blue. The pink panther liked pink more so he changes everything to that color. Where other Pink Panther movies become dull when it is the same joke over and over again this one stays funny until the end. The simple animation makes it even funnier.