Pink Panther 2

I had no expectations whatsoever when going into seeing Pink Panther 2. The original films, with British comedy treasure Peter Sellers were a hit, so, naturally keen to revive any successful franchise, Hollywood chose to re-visit them, and despite the first effort receiving a critical mauling it generated a moderate box-office return, hence the opportunity to make a sequel. The Pink Panther films target a family audience, who lap up this sort of entertainment.

The plot see's our bumbling Inspector Clouseau investigating the theft of priceless treasures from the world's museums by a mysterious thief only known as the Tornado. Clouseau is chosen to head up a detective dream team to bring the criminal to justice and the case becomes even more high-profile when the Tornado makes off with the Pink Panther diamond.

As Clouseau, Steve Martin is actually quite good at times, but delivers a very disjointed performance. He's let down mostly by a wafer-thin script and misguided direction by Harold Zwart. The opening gag is so bad that I cringed when it was over and had already started to form an opinion on how the rest of the movie would unfold.

Naturally, the film aims to reignite the franchise but fails miserably on most counts. What surprises me most is how such an appalling script could attract such star names - I guess the budget allowed for financial compensation in all cases. Adults will get a kick out of seeing John Cleese as Chief Inspector Dreyfus, adding much-needed comedic class to proceedings.

The film does provide sporadic enjoyment, a few genuinely funny scenes include a restaurant episode and a great interrogation involving CCTV which only confirms what a great physical comedian Martin is.

Pink Panther 2 is mindless fun and moderately entertaining. It will do business and no doubt spawn another sequel... so let's hope next time around somebody decides to drop a star name in favour of hiring a decent screenwriter to produce a better script to enhance the overall viewing experience.