The Pink Panther 2 Blu-ray

The Pink Panther 2 Blu-ray
Steve Martin, Jean Reno, John Cleese
Directed by Harald Zwart
Fox Home Video 2009
92 minutes

We are all influenced by word of mouth. A good example is Steve Martin’s The Pink Panther 2. Now on Blu-ray, this slapstick physical comedy is a lot better than I expected it to be. In fact, Pink Panther 2 is a better comedy than the first Steve Martin version of the Blake Edwards classic (well, the first 3 were classics, the others sucked). This movie is certainly not a classic but it is fun to watch. Even more fun are the 27 Pink Panther cartoons on the bonus DVD.

This time around Martin has a solid supporting cast of comic actors that bring a bit more life to this Blu-ray comedy. Clouseau’s Dream Team of international detectives may not be a dream team of comic actors (Andy Garcia, Alfred Molina, Yuki Matsuzaki) but they are all pretty good and allow Martin to interact with more than just Ponton (Jean Reno) and Chief Inspector Dreyfuss (John Cleese replacing Kevin Kline who gave a rather lame performance in the first Pink Panther).

In this movie, the Pink Panther diamond is stolen by an international thief named Tornado. A crack team of inspectors is assembled and general mayhem ensues. This is basically what this movie is about. The plot is just something on which to hang various pratfalls and gags. The pacing is a bit slow at times as the story goes around in a circle but overall this is a fun to watch comedy.

The lesser moments of this Blu-ray comedy involve Lily Tomlin as a media consultant who tries to make Clouseau politically correct. The writing here is less than banal.

The Pink Panther 2 Blu-ray disc (BD) with Digital Copy is presented in widescreen format (1.85:1) with English 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio and Spanish and French 5.1 Dolby Surround with English, French and Spanish subtitles.

Bonus features include: gag reel; drama is easy…comedy is dangerous; a dream team like no other; master thief-global crime showdown; Digital Copy of The Pink Panther 2 for portable players; Bonus disc featuring 27 Pink Panther cartoons including The Pink Phink – 1964 Academy Award winner.

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