Son of the Pink Panther

Surprisingly before Peter Sellers died of a heart-attack in 1980 aged 53, he was still in the process of preparing to play Clouseau again! Blake Edwards was out so Sellers was to direct himself in a film called Romance of the Pink Panther. John Mahony's script was quite funny but not as fast-paced or frenetically zany as Revenge.

Following his death and two 'Tribute' Panther's (1982's Trail and 1983's Curse), Blake Edwards re-wrote the Romance script and re-cast Itlaian Comic Robert Benigni as Clouseau's son. You would think that after being hammered by critics and Sellers fans alike, that Edwards would have given up the ghost - quite literally. Sadly not!

Despite scene-stealing returns by Herbert Lom and Burt Kwouk as Dreyfuss and Cato, and the usual Pink Pantherisms of huge, operatic comic mayhem and finely tuned/expertly timed slapstick, there is a vast chasm that can not be filled even by Benigni's excellent and at times funny perfromance....It's just funny listening to an Italian trying to talk French!

Robert Davi has a few funny scenes and Anton Rogers even gets to break wind . . . but it all ends in a caper about the theft of a Princess and mistaken indentity that is too little too late to save the franchise that sadly passed with the late great Sellers.

Oh my god we thought this film was absolutley fantastic, our sides were splitting. Roberto Benigni is a genius!

No need to say anything else!!!!

This is the final nail in the coffin of the Pink Panther film series. The only scene that had some resemblance of earlier Peter Seller films came when Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus follows Jacques Gambrelli home, only to hear the word “CLOUSEAU” and leaves quickly. The story line is very obvious and predictable to its final outcome i.e. everybody lives happily ever after.

As a Roberto Benigni fan I was expecting a bit more than a mere Seller's impersonation - a poor one at that. I switched off after an agonising cringeworthy half hour of viewing.

Still the funny gags remain in this movie and the new character playing the bumbling inspector obviously could never fill sellers role.

The plot of the movie and the laughs are very much the same though.

Herbert Lom is still there as is Keto but somehow you always sense Peter Sellers is missing, but if you can put this out of your mind, The movie is still quite a good continuation of the Panther Movies.

When great stars pass on,The movies still continue and they just never quite pull it off (Much like when main characters are replaced in a TV Series)

Check out Season 5 of the Dukes of Hazzard TV Series,All the cast are there but *Bo and Luke* were replace,Thankfully they do return at the latter end and continue to the end of the series.

Overall though,This movie was a good attempt to replace Peter Sellers and we know in our hearts it could'nt really be accomplished.