User reviews

This following to Closeau series is a new attempt to maintain the slapstick franchise in spite of Peter Sellers death by means the substituting in Italian actor Roberto Benigni . This eight installment is a passable and average comedy because the formula is run out ; it stars Robert Benigni replacing Peter Sellers as one man show accompanied by an excessive Herbert Lom . After making life intolerable for clumsy Inspector Closeau , previous Chief Inspector Charles Dreifuss (Herbert Lom) encounters Jacques Gambrelli (Robert Benigni), who reminds him painfully to Inspector Clouseau , the man who drove him nutty and got insane . With good reason: Gambrelli is Clouseau's son . While a princess (Debrah Farentino) is in France to accompany her daddy (Oliver Cotton), a king from far Orient on a diplomatic mission . She is abducted by some delinquents (Robert Davi , Jennifer Edwards )who obligate her father to abdicate , which he will not do even for her. And since her nation has such close ties to France the Police Prefect instructs commissioner Dreyfuss to go where the princess was abducted and directing the investigation. On the way he runs into the kidnappers and were to be shot when a Gendarme stumbles into them and saves Dreyfuss. Dreyfuss oversees that there is something familiar about this patrolman. When he goes to the local police chief and says him that he will be handling the investigation and asks for his best man, he assigns him Gambrelli, who just happens to be the Gendarme he met earlier . And having another meeting with Gambrelli, he goes to his home to encounter his mummy Maria (Claudia Cardinale), and is shocked to discover that results to be Closeau's son .

¨The revenge of the Pink Panther ¨ release was the fifth part of series of Inspector Clouseau from French Surete and the last entry by the late Peter Sellers though he would follow playing but with outtakes in films as ¨Trail of the Pink Panther¨. After that , it was continued by ¨The curse of the Pinnk Panther¨ that turned to be another flop and starred by Ted Wass . ¨The son of the Pink Panther ¨ is the eight part of Closeau series and a light comedy starred by the great Roberto Benigni as the inept and bungler Inspector of the French Surete . The movie gets entertaining and hilarious moments here and there. This slapstick picture contains amusing , funny scenes , fresh and diverting moments but also flaws and gaps . Herbert Lom steals the show parodying his classic character including his ordinary faces , grimaces and gestures . Appears as secondaries the usual series as Burt Kwouk , Grahame Stark and of course a mature Claudia Cardinale . The actors seem to enjoy themselves immensely but they are supposedly amusing holidays . Lively and atmospheric music by habitual Henry Mancini with songs arranged by Bobby MacFerrin ; furthermore ,magnificent opening and ending cartoon titles by Chris Hummel . Colorful and glimmer cinematography by Dick Bush . The film is regularly penned and directed,as always,by Blake Edwards. Several chuckles and gags , the result of which is one acceptable entry from series but inferior to precedent outings as the original ¨The Pink Panther¨, ¨A shot in dark¨, ¨Return of pink panther,¨Revenge of pink panther¨. Director Blake Edwards although gets some inspired bits penned by him however he attempts to alive his classic personage with no much success . The flick will appeal to Pink Panther series buffs and Roberto Benigni fans. This is arguably one of most mediocre of the series about the botcher and bungling Inspector .

No this doesn't match the Sellers films, but it does have Roberto Benigni which is reason enough to watch.

Okay, yes, when Benigni is not on screen this film is bad, and some of the performances are patently bizarre (Edwards' daughter as one of the villains for example) but it has some very clever silliness by the mad man of Italian comedy which is fine by me.

I know this isn't much of a review but it isn't much of a movie with only one thing, or rather one man to recommend it. If you don't like Benigni in full on silly mode then don't watch this. If you do like him you must see this.

O.K. is the only possible way of analyzing this movie. It does what it set out to do. But if you have seen this movie and were disapointed, did you really think it was going to be as funny or enjoyable as earlier entries in the Pink Panther series? The movie's comedy is very lukewarm. Whether this is the fault of Blake Edwards, or maybe he intended it to be that way is unknown. Roberto Benigni is the Son. O.K, he is now an academy award winner, but in 1993 a complete unknown. If anyone on the movie wanted it to be a success then a bigger name should have been chosen, a David Jason, Dudley Moore or Rowan Atkinson. Benigni, does quite a good impersonation of Peter Sellers throughout the movie, but this aside isn't very funny or charming. The return of cast members like Herbert Lom, Graham Starke, Burt Kwouk and Liz Smith is good. But overall the movie seems forced and is something of a hit and miss. Lets hope the upcoming Mike Myers remake breathes new life into this series.

I say this as a big fan of The Pink Panther. This movie is a shameless mess, with just two redeeming qualities. One is that the music is wonderful, appropriately zany and jazzy. The other is the amusing title sequence. These aside, you have here the worst of the Pink Panther movies, as bad as Trail and as mediocre as Curse were even they aren't as close to unwatchable as this.

The locations are quite nice, but the editing and photography aren't as striking, often feeling rushed and dull. The cast are really quite ineffectual. I don't mind Roberto Benigni personally, but he is in my opinion miscast and he mugs shamefully. In fact the only thing he manages to succeed in doing is annoying poor Herbert Lom who is saddled with an underwritten character and a badly misguided plot.

The basic plot is to do with a kidnapping, and how it is written and constructed is mind-bogglingly inane. The comedy is even worse, the script is shambolic and the slapstick is inept and unfunny. It is nice to see the lovely Claudia Cardinale but she sadly doesn't have that much worthwhile. And I don't think Edwards has done a poorer directing job than what he does here.

All in all, a big mess and only really worth seeing to see how bad it is. 1/10 Bethany Cox

Quite plodding and slow for 80% of the movie due to bad writing and the Plot was terribly weak as well. Did not find Benigni funny here at all he was miscast (the best and funniest scene involving a heart attack had nothing to do with him!), actually preferred Sleigh from Curse by a large margin but of course the writing was much better in that one which helped. The whole scene where he tried to play a doctor was really dumb and awkward worst in the movie and yet high raters here are Benigni fanboys from his later flicks smh. Anyway that is 3 strikes already for this one and I could go on.

Really not worth watching and not deserving as a PP entry, I actually wanted to stop watching after 45 mins which is a first for me in this series. The one to fairly compare this too would be Curse, and Curse is better than this outing in every way by a large margin (I rated 6). I completely agree with everything "TheLittleSongbird" said in their review, really easy to see why it ended after this. 2/10.

It goes without saying, of course, that no other star of a Pink Panther movie can measure up to Peter Sellers. But of those who have tried, Alan Arkin is probably the best, followed by the rather bland Ted Wass.

As for Roberto Begnini? He's dead last.

The script to SON isn't that great to begin with; it barely has a laugh in sight, and the background story into which the star steps is rather messy and confusing (not like that's a first for PP films or anything). But Begnini's character doesn't do much to help things. He's annoying as anything, has an unconvincing and hard-to-understand accent, and -- above all -- is mostly just painfully unfunny. When he makes a fool of himself pretending to be a doctor, it's like the other actor in the scene didn't have to *try* to look completely unamused. And the idea of the princess being charmed by him throughout the film does not ring true on any level.

When Begnini comes close to being funny, it's due to physical humor rather than anything verbal. While Sellers' Clouseau was always funny verbally, with rarely a wasted word, Begnini talks and talks and just makes things worse in the process.

Additionally, this film refers back to earlier PP films while also ignoring what happened in them; other films in the series do this too, but not as badly. Clouseau's relationship with Ms. Gambrelli, and his eventual fate, are described as being completely different from what was portrayed before -- for no good reason.

By far the most satisfying aspect of this movie, and the only reason to watch it, is the character of Commissioner Dreyfus. The TV Guide review of the movie says it best: "SON is Dreyfus' reward after... years of suffering... at the capricious hands of chaos. He's less caricatured here than usual. He tics and twitches, he goes a little nuts, but he wouldn't be Dreyfus if he didn't. Nevertheless, he also has achieved a degree of inner placidity and wisdom that has come with age and, for once, allows him to effortlessly and decisively solve the case. For once, he gets to be the hero, and he even gets the girl... In terms of the greater scheme of the series... it is significant that Dreyfus makes his peace with chaos by marrying into it. It's hard not to wish him well."

Bottom line: Not even as good as CURSE OF THE PINK PANTHER, and neither as good nor as bad as TRAIL OF THE PINK PANTHER (depending on which parts of that movie it's being compared to). Serious PANTHER fans may want to check it out just to see how the series ends, at least for Dreyfus.

I was more than willing to accept a new actor to take over the Pink Panther franchise as Clouseau's inept son, and I feel that he would have made a decent enough Clouseau. The problem lies with the script of this movie. Many of the gags are simply re-hashed from previous Panther movies, and not very effectively at that.

Following a whole decade after Blake Edwards and United Artists' embarrassing attempts at continuing the Pink Panther series without Peter Sellers, one more try was done with Son of the Pink Panther. Starring Italian comic actor Roberto Benigni as Inspector Clouseau's son, the film did so poorly on its summer 1993 release that any plans to possibly continue the series ended right then and there, and Edwards himself would retire from filmmaking shortly afterwards. Watching the film 30 years following its original release, it's safe to say that this would mark the end of an era, and thank goodness for that too.

The film centers on the kidnapping of Princess Yasmin from Lugash, leading to Chief Inspector Dreyfus having to find her on account of France's strong ties with the country. Upon encountering local police officer Jacques Gambrelli, son of Jacques Clouseau and Maria Gambrelli from A Shot in the Dark, both men set out to find the missing Princess in spite of their shenanigans. With a premise of Inspector Clouseau's illegitimate son coming into play, one would think this would be a nice way to continue the magic of the series. Unfortunately, outside of general exposition from Maria Gambrelli on her son's origins, little is done to do anything unique with Clouseau jr other than the usual slapstick shenanigans with Dreyfus. Although Roberto Benigni is certainly doing his best in continuing the accident prone formula, his physical talents only do so much entertainment wise. At this point in the series, it seems like Edwards had long since exhausted what could be done and couldn't bother doing anything to make this film work for a new generation that hadn't grown up on the movies prior.

Outside of tired slapstick, the film does try to lighten the suspense up with dangerous stakes in regards to Princess Yasmin's kidnapping. Robert Davi pulls off a chilling performance as the chief kidnapper Hans Zabra, and the film does admittedly get its better sequences out of his team's presence alone. That being said, most of the action scenes feel tact on to keep the momentum going, not helped by how flat Yasmin is as a macguffin. On top of being played by producer Tony Adams' then wife Debrah Farentino, she is all looks and no character and feels more like an excuse for forced romantic chemistry between Yasmin and Gambrelli. At this point in the series, the movies can't decide whether they want to be fully goofy comedies or intense capers. One would even wonder why Jacques would be Clouseau's son in the first place when he could have easily been another accident prone cop like Ted Wass in the last Pink Panther outing. I guess having Claudia Cardinale back as Maria Gambrelli (replacing Elke Sommer) is a good enough excuse in the filmmaker's minds.

Going into any notable positives, the absolute highlight of the feature would definitely be the opening credits. On top of a groovy rendition of the iconic Pink Panther theme done by folk jazz singer Bobby McFerrin, the animation of the panther itself and a caricature of Benigni's Gambrelli continue the well timed pratfalls. By having the entire take place within one location, a recording studio booth where McFerrin and backup perform, the comical hijinks between both cartoon characters feel well confined within their environments enough to make for a strong start before all goes downhill. In addition to this being the last film to be scored by Henry Mancini, the production design makes good use of shooting on location in southeastern France and Jordan next to the UK. While the battle sequences are slightly bogged down by the obnoxious slapstick, the sets are marvelous in how grand the scope of it all is. Even when a feature is clearly dead in the water, you can still accompany it with some strong production values every now and then.

To call Son of the Pink Panther a low note to end the Pink Panther series on is an understatement to say the least. No matter how hard the cast is trying to make the film as entertaining as they can, the painfully unfunny script and questionable storyline prove that it was time to retire the franchise once and for all. Unless you're a die hard Pink Panther fan, skip this film at all turns, as it offers little to nothing for regular viewers and fails as an introduction to a new generation. It is sad to say that this would end up being Blake Edwards' swan song, for his legacy is worth cherishing more than this lame feature.

Blake Edwards, the man who was certainly the most visually inventive and provocative comedic filmmaker of his time, naturally has a hard time being understood by the historically myopic. This film is no exception, and it's too bad: it's rather tender and vibrant in its humor, colorful and gracefully paced in its framing and editing. However, today is the age of team MTV and nudgenudgewinkwink teencomedies, and woe to Blake. Too bad - the anger that folks seem to hold for directors as they work into their later years is rather frightening and rabid, it seems to me. This film is fresh, funny, and, actually, rather youthful. I, for one, am quite glad that Blake made it. Thanks to all of you.

Ten years after the flop that was Curse of the Pink Panther, director Blake Edwards once again tried to revive his iconic series without the late star Peter Sellers. In Curse, there was some wonder among Dreyfus and Francois if Clifton Sleigh was related to Clouseau. Here, it's confirmed that Gendarme Jacques Gambrelli (Roberto Benigni) is indeed Clouseau's son by his mother, Maria Gambrelli (returning Claudia Cardinale, previously Princess Dala in The original Pink Panther. She replaced Elke Sommer of A Shot in the Dark). It's also confirmed that it's been ten years since Clouseau's death (perhaps a little after the events of Curse, perhaps?). Besides the always welcome return of Herbert Lom as Commissioner-once again!-Charles Dreyfus, we also get again Burt Kwouk as Cato, Liz Smith as Marta Balls (she previously appeared in Trail of the Pink Panther in outtakes from The Pink Panther Strikes Again as well as Curse), and, back as her husband, Professor Auguste Balls, the always versatile Graham Stark (though Harvey Korman played him in Smith's previous entries). With Andre Maranne seemingly unavailable, Dermot Crowley takes over his role of Seargent Francois Duval here. Also new to the cast is Debrah Farentino as Princess Yasmin who falls for Gambrelli, Robert Davi as the villain Hans Zabra, and Edwards' daughter Jennifer as Yussa. All are good in their roles. Incidentally, the director's son Geoffrey Edwards, who previously was co-writer on Trail as well as Curse, is second unit director here as well as the director of the live-action section of the title sequence. Okay, I liked Curse despite the ending so I wondered how I'd feel about this one after what happened there. I was very glad no mention was made of Clouseau's going over to the other side so I half wondered if that was conveniently forgotten or what. Anyway, Benigni was fine mixing his and Sellers' characterizations in making us believe he really was Jacques Clouseau's son and his scenes with Lom are pure gold. Kwouk as Cato is also nicely done compared to his over-the-top attacks on Curse. In fact, I liked his disguise as a Jewish man and his surprise attacks on the villains though I half wondered if he'd die when one of them kicked him back in the refrigerator. Not every set piece was laugh-your-head-off funny but I was pretty entertained from beginning to end. Oh, and there's a cameo by Benigni's wife, Nicoletta Braschi, involving another twist that I won't reveal here. And the beginning live-action/animated title sequence by Desert Music Pictures/Kroyer Films, Inc., respectively, marked a new kind of hilarity as conductor Pink Panther (who is passed the baton from Henry Mancini in a nice cameo) tries to stop the animated Benigni from wreaking havoc in the music/film projector studio as we see Bobby McFerrin use his unique mouth to warble his own version of Mancini's Pink Panther theme. So with this series entry, we say goodbye to the cast and crew of the previous nine (including this one) Pink Panther movies especially Mancini as he'd die not long after. This also turned out to be Edwards' last feature film as once again, Son of the Pink Panther flopped. So in a way, this was indeed the end of the ORIGINAL Pink Panther series. However, someone decided to reboot the series thirteen years later. Next up, The Pink Panther (2006)...

No pun intended - obviously Peter Sellers was no more by that time. But you have a lot of people involved who were there at the conception of the series (and what a story that is - check it out if you can, how the character came to be) ... and yet you can feel that the most important ingredient is missing. Even Steve Martin couldn't step into the (big) shoes ... not easy to fill.

Same is true for Roberto Begnini ... he has done some ... wonderful movies (see what I did there?), but this is not one of them. At least I wouldn't call it that. We have a love interest, we have again players you could be familiar with if you have seen the other movies ... and yet ... there is a big hole .. there is Sellers missing.

On the other hand, if you are able to just go with the flow ... just accept the silliness this serves you ... a good example is the Son dressed as a doctor "examining" the bad guy ... this is beyond ridiculous ... you'll either find it super funny or be super annoyed by it ... this informs how you feel about the rest of it.

The beginning of the movie with the chase scene is the same .... funny or not - your choice ... I've seen worse of course ... but also way better.

This is the worst Pink Panther Movie. The slapstick is just terrible, and Roberto Benigni, as Clouseau Jr., just does not fill Peter Sellers' shoes. But let's look at it thoughtfully: If Sellers were in this movie, it is true it would still not be that funny, altho it would be somewhat better. However, altho I blame the problem in "Son" more on Blake Edwards, it is also true that if Benigni were in a Pink Panther movie with good scenes, the movie would be only mediocre. Altho Clouseau is such a fool, Sellers plays him with such great presence, so artfully and skillfully, and, yes, suavely, the audience is actually, paradoxically, laughing with rather than at the bumbling Clouseau. And if the scenes are great, everything is great. Benigni does not measure up, but he does not have much from Edwards. The scenes are just not funny, they are dumb, silly, stupid. Look at me I'm a boob. Does not work. Pale shadows of the excellent fun long gone.

Some redemption is provided by subplots, as Herbert Lom and yes, Claudia Cardinale return. Dreyfus (still) is involved in the investigation at hand, of the kidnapping of Princess Yasmin of Lugash, played by Debrah Farentino. Lo and behold, we have a revelation about Jacques Jr.'s origins. The martial arts square-offs between the princess and her female captor Yussa (Jennifer Edwards) remind me of the Stefanie Powers mud spa scene in "The Girl from Uncle," altho the forum(s) are different. It is good to see Cato (Burt Kwouk) still around.

All in all, thumbs down. The best reason to see it is just to see Claudia again. Otherwise, there is not much, and much bad.

I have not seen the latest Pink Panther movie starring Steve Martin, but from what I gather, it at least has redeeming qualities. Its most popular credit is the song Beyonce provided for it (I'm not a fan - "Check on Me" is it called?), and most had no idea the song and movie were connected (I also read that Martin's comedic timing slightly saves the family film). Clearly, it can't be as bad as Son of the Pink Panther... can it? I mean Son is really bad; I've heard Peter Sellers (the original Inspector Clouseau) roll in his grave a time or two, but I thought there was thunder outside when I saw this. A then-unknown Roberto Benigni (yup, that wacky Italian who, five years later, would beat Tom Hanks AND Edward Norton for the Best Actor Oscar and declare he wants to "kidnap you and make love to you") plays what many suspect to be Clouseau's offspring. Of course, it's up to him to solve the case, which I won't even bother going into detail with. My favorite scene, uhhh... some physical comedy with a bicycle toward the beginning. Can't we all, as a whole, agree to never make or support another Pink Panther movie ever again? The Bobby McFerrin (?!?) musical intro to this gunk should have served as enough indication that the genius work of Blake Edwards and Sellers should not be outweighed by a steaming pile of pink whatsit.

Since Peter Sellers´ death in 1980, Blake Edwards seems to be the only person on the planet who hasn´t gotten over it yet. Since then we have seen the tasteless mess that was "Trail of the Pink Panther", the feeble attempt "Curse of the Pink Panther" and now this...apparently Edwards saw a tv-performance by Roberto Benigni, and felt that he had the talent to revive the Clouseau character, but sadly the result is a painfully unfunny chaos. There´s Herbert Lom as Dreyfuss, but he seems fatigued and too mellow by now, there´s Claudia Cardinale who played the princess in the first Pink Panther movie, but here she´s supposed to be Maria Gambrelli (from A Shot in the Dark). There´s Burt Kwouk as Cato and Graham Stark as Auguste Balls but that´s just not enough. Robert Davi seems to be doing his Sanchez routine from Licence to Kill all over again. Roberto Benigni, despite all his efforts, is left to aping Sellers in what is basically weak imitations of the well known gags from earlier films, and quite frankly, it just doesn´t work. The title sequence and Bobby McFerrin´s rendition of Henry Mancini´s classic theme is worth one star, though.

The "Pink Panther" franchise has spawned a number of movies. The last one in the series is "Son of the Pink Panther." It stars Roberto Benigni as the original Inspector Jacques Clouseau's son. He does a good job stumbling and bumbling his way through the story. It's easy to picture Benigni as a Clouseau-type stumblebum. And a number of characters appear that, although they did not appear in "The Pink Panther," have become familiar in other "Panther" movies. But the last in the line differs somewhat from the original. Its tone isn't quite as lighthearted as the first. It has a lot of violence that seems to taint the movie. Although there are a few good scenes, this movie reminds us all how sorely Peter Sellers is missed.

This movie spelled the end for the Pink Panther series. Not only would most never wish to see another one, most would wish that they had not wasted time on this one. It proved that Peter Sellers is and always will be the one and ONLY ... Inspector Jacques Clouseau. It's hard to believe that Blake Edwards would allow this travesty to be seen. It goes beyond disappointment. This film should be burned and all those who had anything to do with it should deny association to it. I know that I do not wish to admit to viewing it. It's got to finish in the 10 worst comedy motion pictures of all time. The sooner that I can forget it, the better. Roberto Benigni is worse than Alan Arkin at acting or comedy. I don't normally cast such a final judgement, but this movie is TERRIBLE. I can't see how anyone could say that they enjoyed any of it. I kept waiting for something funny to happen, like in the the Peter Sellers installments. It never did.

The visual wit and warm wrap-up that Blake Edwards' brings to one of the finest comedic series of film history (and, apart from the couple produced in the eighties, they were consistently original and inventive - and changed with each one) is sadly misunderstood and no longer appreciated by our audiences. The manner in which Edwards' uses the entire screen instead of just cutting for quick effects requires a little more patience, and can result in quite a payoff - witness the side-splitting scene with Dreyfus and colleague in hospital beds (but, of course, you need a widescreen version to see it). This movie made me laugh, and laugh, and laugh, but, as I said before, if Edwards' "The Pink Panther Strikes Again" (probably the best in the series) were released today, it wouldn't have gotten the time of day either. It's too bad, because this film, which displays a tenderness to these characters and Edwards' creation as a whole, was never allowed a chance to really be seen without generally jaded eyes.

No this movie is not as good as the earliest Pink Panter movies and no, Roberto Benigni ain't no Peter Sellers but fair is fair, this is an entertaining and fun enough comedy, that showed some potential for a new fresh start of the Pink Panther series.

Everything in this movie indicated that they intended this movie as a new and fresh start of the Pink Panther series. The movie was more of its time and modern and looked more like a James Bond movie done comedy style than an old fashioned made slapstick, like all of the other previous Pink Panther movies were done in.

Too bad that people never really gave this movie a fair change. People just thought that the Pink Panther series should had stopped with the death of Peter Sellers in 1980 and director Blake Edwards should had never went on making more Pink Panther movies, as he did. This was the third Pink Panther movie without Peter Sellers, so people were already mostly fed up with it and after the previous too disappointing Pink Panther entries, the expectations for this movie naturally weren't really high. But I for one however wouldn't had mind seeing more Pink Panther movies with the son of Clouseau in it.

No, I never really have been a Roberto Benigni fan, since he mostly only plays naive, smiling, jumping and screaming comical characters but he simply was well cast in this movie and did a good job with his role. I think it was a good move that they didn't let hem try to impersonate Peter Seller's performance as the famous 'brilliant' inspector but instead letting him be a total different character with Benigni his own interpretation.

Nevertheless it's not a movie that totally abandons the style or spirit of the previous Pink Panther movies. It still let some old character re-appear in this movie such as Police Commissioner Charles Dreyfus (finally he got his promotion), Professor Auguste Balls, Cato and Sergeant Francois Duval. It however also becomes painfully obviously that by now the actors who are portraying the characters got terribly old and it became time for some fresh blood. As much as I loved Herbert Lom in all of the previous Pink Panther movies as Dreyfus, he really was too old for his role in this movie to be still believable and good in it. Same goes for Burt Kwouk as Cato, who at the time of this movie already was well in his 60's.

The fact that this is a more comical approach of James Bond also means that there is some more story present this time, with a real villain and a love interested, action, shooting as well as most other typical genre clichés. The feeling that this is a more comical version of James Bond is being strengthened by the presence of Robert Davi, who previously played the main villain in the James Bond movie "Licence to Kill". Basically he plays the same role as he always does; a ruthless criminal boss who always is looking for more power and money. But if you're so great at playing these sort of roles, why wouldn't you take it? A only complaint could be that he doesn't play his role comically enough. He is serious as always, though I'm not to sure if this was what the film-makers originally had in mind. The different approach of the entire movie might also be a reason why some people have difficulties accepting this as a Pink Panther movie but I in fact think that all of the Pink Panther movies are somewhat- and always wanted to be like James Bond movies, only done in a complete different comical style.

Director Blake Edwards with this movie shows that old fashioned slapstick can still be incorporated properly into 'modern' movies, if done and handled correctly. Blake Edwards with this movie shows that he still had it in him, which also makes it sort of a shame that his career pretty much died right after this movie.

Give this movie a fair change and you might end up liking it for what it is.

6/10

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Son of the Pink Panther sees writer/director Blake Edwards attempting to reboot the Pink Panther series by introducing the offspring of Inspector Clouseau, Gendarme Jacques Gambrelli (Roberto Benigni), who is a chip off the old block. Gambrelli becomes involved in the case of the kidnapped Princess Yasmin of Lugash (Debrah Farentino), and, like his father, stumbles from one silly scenario to another, somehow coming out on top in the end.

The best of the Pink Panther films were a success, not because of their plots (Son's story line is no better or worse than most of the earlier films), but rather thanks to Sellers' comedic genius and the general lunacy of the situations Clouseau would find himself in. Benigni might be a future Oscar winner, but here he displays very little understanding of the slapstick genre, content to mug his way through Edward's uninspired set-pieces, the series' creator having clearly run out of ideas and resorted to ripping off his own work; thus we get another tired scene in Balls Emporium, someone falling out of a window while on the telephone, and mishaps with a hospital bed, all of which have been done before, and better.

Returning to the series are Herbert Lom as long-suffering Chief Inspector Dreyfus, and Claudia Cardinale, who played the princess from the first Panther movie, but who plays Maria Gambrelli in Son of..., a character from the second movie (A Shot In The Dark) originally played by Elke Sommer. Confused? I was for a while. Amused? Not really, the film delivering very few genuinely gigglesome moments.

3.5/10, mostly for the opening credits and Bobby McFerrin's rendition of Henry Mancini's theme music, rounded down to 3 for the romance between Princess Yasmin and Jacques Gambrelli - easily the most far-fetched thing to happen in the entire Pink Panther series, and that's saying something.