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)...

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

Terrorist Hans Zarba (Robert Davi) kidnaps Princess Yasmin of Lugash (Debrah Farentino) to force her father to abdicate. Police Commissioner Dreyfus (Herbert Lom) gets into an accident with the getaway van. Just as Zarba is about to kill Dreyfus, local policeman Jacques Gambrelli (Roberto Benigni) crash into mess. Gambrelli sees the drugged Yasmin but believes Zarba's story. Gambrelli lets them go. Later, Dreyfus is horrified to discover from Maria (Claudia Cardinale),a character from 'A Shot in the Dark', that Gambrelli is actually the son of his greatest nemesis Inspector Jacques Clouseau.

This is like watching a man drowning and there is nothing anyone can do about it. One can see Roberto Benigni flailing away. It's a fool's errant to try to replace Peter Sellers in this way. This is Blake Edwards' last feature directorial effort and he's past his prime. It's nice to see the other old timers but everybody has lost a step. As much as Benigni is flailing wildly, the movie is an utter disaster without him. None of it is funny and it's incredibly tiring to see Benigni keep trying ... and failing to salvage this mess.