| The Pink Panther 2 | |
| Director: | Harald Zwart |
| Producer: | Robert Simonds |
| Cinematography: | Denis Crossan |
| Editing: | Julia Wong |
| Distributor: | Sony Pictures Releasing[1] |
| Runtime: | 92 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Budget: | $70 million |
| Gross: | $76 million[2] |
The Pink Panther 2 is a 2009 American comedy-mystery film directed by Harald Zwart.[3] It is the eleventh installment in The Pink Panther film series and the sequel to the 2006 film The Pink Panther, a reboot of the popular comedy series.[4] The film was released on February 6, 2009 in North America.[5] In the film, Inspector Clouseau must team up with detectives from other countries to rout a daring burglar, The Tornado, who has returned after a decade's inactivity.
Steve Martin, who reprised the role of Clouseau, originated by Peter Sellers, polished the original script written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber in November 2006. MGM, partnering with Columbia Pictures on the sequel, hired the team of Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel to perform a further rewrite in January 2007.[6] Principal photography began in Paris on August 20, 2007, then moved to Boston several weeks later, where filming ended on November 2, 2007.
John Cleese replaces Kevin Kline as Chief Inspector Dreyfus with Jean Reno and Emily Mortimer reprising their roles as Clouseau's partner Ponton and Clouseau's girlfriend Nicole. Beyoncé did not return for the sequel. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan appears as a corrupt criminologist Sonia Solandres. Andy García, Yuki Matsuzaki and Alfred Molina round out the cast as Italian businessman Vincenzo Brancaleone, Japanese technology expert Kenji Mazuto and British Detective Chief Inspector Randall Pepperidge, respectively. It was released on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on June 23, 2009.
When master thief "The Tornado" steals artifacts from around the world, the French government assembles a "Dream Team" of investigators to solve the case. Meanwhile, Inspector Clouseau is reassigned from his task as a parking officer by Chief Inspector Dreyfus to join the detectives in Japan, where The Tornado's latest heist occurred. After Clouseau crosses the "borders" of France at an airport gate, news breaks that the Pink Panther diamond has been stolen. Clouseau meets the rest of the Dream Team: Detective Chief Inspector Randall Pepperidge from Great Britain; Vincenzo Brancaleoni, a businessman from Italy; Kenji Mazuto, a technology expert from Japan; and Sonia Solandres, a criminologist from India.
The team then goes to Rome to investigate a black market fence, Alonso Avellaneda. Assuming Avellaneda is The Tornado, the Dream Team questions him while Clouseau snoops around. Avellaneda lacks a characteristic bullet wound The Tornado received years ago, so the detectives leave. Later, he meets with the real Tornado. That night, Clouseau and his partner Ponton spy on Avellaneda at a restaurant using an audio bug. The mission is compromised when they find Vincenzo and Nicole, Clouseau's girlfriend, having dinner there. Banned from the restaurant for burning it down months earlier, Clouseau disguises himself as a dancer and switches the bug to Nicole's table, burning down the restaurant again in the process. Meanwhile, The Tornado steals the Pope's ring, souring public opinion against the Dream Team. When Clouseau's incompetence aggravates the situation, he is voted off the team. Clouseau is later called to an office and finds that The Tornado has killed himself, leaving a note claiming he destroyed the Pink Panther – considering it so beautiful that he could not allow anyone else to own it – and left the other treasures to be recovered. Examining a key found in the Pope's Chambers, the Dream Team match the dead man's DNA with the one recovered from when The Tornado was shot and believe they have solved the case. However, Clouseau remains unconvinced.
A celebration is thrown in the Dream Team's honor, although Clouseau is uninvited. While wandering near the party, Clouseau sees the license plate of Sonia's car and calls Ponton. Clouseau then tells Dreyfus that Sonia is the real thief, but is ignored. Dreyfus tells Clouseau's theory to the group, who jokingly work out a plausible explanation: as The Tornado's ex-lover, she would have in-depth knowledge of his methods, and could have drawn attention to the thefts of the other artifacts, leaving her free to sell the diamond. Nicole, realizing Clouseau could be correct, asks Sonia to empty her purse. After initially trying to leave, Sonia pulls out a gun, threatening to shoot Nicole, before shooting Clouseau. However, the bullet ricochets off his Légion d'honneur medal. A chase ensues, with the Dream Team suffering due to various accidents caused by Clouseau's clumsiness. Finally cornered, Sonia threatens to destroy the diamond and, goaded by Clouseau, she does. Before she can escape, however, Sonia is knocked out by Ponton and arrested. Clouseau reveals that Sonia destroyed a fake gem, as Clouseau kept the real diamond in his possession to protect it. The Pink Panther at the museum was swapped with a replica he was given before leaving France. Furthermore, The Tornado, an expert on gems, would have recognized the fake diamond, allowing Clouseau to deduce that his suicide note was forged. The Tornado was actually murdered. Clouseau had given a ticket to Sonia's car one day before the diamond was stolen – contradicting her alibi of being delayed to the original crime scene by her flight. This confirmed to him that Sonia was the culprit and that she used the Dream Team, and (implicitly) Clouseau's mishaps, as a strategic cover.
Later, Clouseau marries Nicole in a ceremony officiated by Dreyfus and attended by the Dream Team, ending in chaos when Dreyfus accidentally destroys a security camera with a champagne cork, summoning the Black Berets. In the ensuing confusion, Clouseau and Nicole leave for their honeymoon, as the animated Pink Panther invites himself to the chaos.
The film was shot in Paris, France, and Boston, Bedford, Chelsea, Westwood, and Winchester, Massachusetts and Trenton, New Jersey[7] from August 20 to November 2, 2007.
The Pink Panther 2 was theatrically released on February 6, 2009 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Columbia Pictures and was released on DVD and Blu-ray on June 23, 2009 by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment and MGM Home Entertainment.
Composer Christophe Beck returns to compose the score for the sequel as well as adapting Henry Mancini's Pink Panther theme.
On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 13% based on 137 reviews, with an average rating of 3.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Underutilizing its talented cast, The Pink Panther 2 is little more than a series of lame slapstick gags."[8] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 36 out of 100 based on 30 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[9] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, up from the first film's "B".[10]
The Pink Panther 2 grossed $35.9 million in North America and $40 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $75.9 million, against a budget of $70 million.[2] The film made $11.6 million in its opening weekend, finishing fourth at the box office.[11] The film was released in the United Kingdom on February 13, 2009, and opened at #8.[12]
On November 19, 2020, Metro-Goldwyn Mayer announced that a new Pink Panther film is in the works with Sonic the Hedgehog director Jeff Fowler attached to direct and Chris Bremner attached to write the script. Unlike the previous films which only focused on Inspector Clouseau, the new film will focus on both Clouseau and the animated Pink Panther cartoon character.[13]