Former chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus is hours away from being discharged from a mental institution as a cured man when Inspector Closeau pays him a visit. In the beautiful grounds, the Inspector plays some croquet and manages to hit Dreyfus on the head with the ball. This triggers a regression to Dreyfus's old anger and leads him to escape the mental institution and become once again hell bent on killing Closeau at all costs.
Although this film might easily be described as plain silly and perhaps over the top to non fans, to me it provides vital comic relief and the pleasure of watching the performance of two idiosyncratic and excellent characters.
Sellars is masterful as the dim witted but well meaning Inspector, whose ignorance is indeed bliss as he thwarts the attempts of 12 assassins without even being aware of them.
The former Chief Inspector Dreyfus is also very good as the evil character hell bent on destroying the world if Closeau is not eradicated. (You can see where the makers of Austin Powers got some inspiration for their Dr Evil character.) This is one of my favourites of the Pink Panther series as it has funny gags, good characters and is a cut above the rest. However, I can understand the criticism that at times the gags can get a bit too silly, but overall there is a lot of humour and entertainment here.
Although this film might easily be described as plain silly and perhaps over the top to non fans, to me it provides vital comic relief and the pleasure of watching the performance of two idiosyncratic and excellent characters.
Sellars is masterful as the dim witted but well meaning Inspector, whose ignorance is indeed bliss as he thwarts the attempts of 12 assassins without even being aware of them.
The former Chief Inspector Dreyfus is also very good as the evil character hell bent on destroying the world if Closeau is not eradicated. (You can see where the makers of Austin Powers got some inspiration for their Dr Evil character.) This is one of my favourites of the Pink Panther series as it has funny gags, good characters and is a cut above the rest. However, I can understand the criticism that at times the gags can get a bit too silly, but overall there is a lot of humour and entertainment here.