The Pink Panther 2

About the film

The Pink Panther 2 is a 2009 American comedy-mystery film directed by Harald Zwart. It is the eleventh installment in the Pink Panther film series and the sequel to the 2006 film The Pink Panther. Steve Martin, Jean Reno and Emily Mortimer reprise their roles from the previous film, with Alfred Molina, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Andy Garcia, Lily Tomlin and John Cleese joining the cast. In the film, Clouseau (Martin) must team up with detectives from other countries to rout a daring burglar, The Tornado, who has returned after a decade's inactivity.

Martin polished the original script written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber in November 2006. In January 2007, the writing team of Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel were hired to perform a further rewrite. Principal photography began in Paris in August 2007, before moving to Boston several weeks later, where filming ended that November.

Plot

When master thief "The Tornado" steals priceless 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, despite Clouseau stating him leaving France would result in the Pink Panther diamond left unguarded. After Clouseau crosses the "borders" of France at an airport gate, news then 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, who arrives from a delayed flight. During the case, Vincenzo becomes smitten with Nicole, Clouseau's girlfriend; Clouseau attempts to dissuade him, but Vincenzo continuously relays the insults to Nicole.

The team 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 having dinner there. Banned from the restaurant for accidentally burning it down months earlier, Clouseau disguises himself as a dancer and switches the bug to Nicole's table, inadvertently 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, a man named Laurence Milliken, 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.

Production

The film was shot in Paris, France, Boston, Bedford, Chelsea, Westwood, and Winchester, Massachusetts and Trenton, New Jersey from August 20 to November 2, 2007. Much like previous installments, this film also featured an animated opening title sequence animated by Imaginary Forces.

Release

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.

Soundtrack

Composer Christophe Beck returned to compose the score for the sequel as well as adapting Henry Mancini's Pink Panther theme.

Reception

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." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 36 out of 100 based on 30 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". 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".

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. The film made $11.6 million in its opening weekend, finishing fourth at the box office. The film was released in the United Kingdom on February 13, 2009, and opened at #8.

Future

On November 19, 2020, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) 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. By April 2023, it was announced that after acquiring MGM, Amazon is developing new additions to the franchise in the form of a movie and television series through their subsidiary Amazon Studios (now called Amazon MGM Studios). It was later reported that Eddie Murphy was in talks to star in the film as Clouseau. As of 2026, the film is still in development and no news has been heard on it since then.

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