Steve 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 on August 20, 2007, then moved to Boston several weeks later, where filming ended on November 2, 2007.
The film was released on February 6, 2009 in North America. The film received generally negative reviews from critics, and underperformed at the box office, grossing $76 million against a $70 million budget.
Plot
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, 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 (played by Johnny Hallyday), 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. Before Clouseau left France, The Pink Panther at the museum was swapped with a replica he owned. Furthermore, The Tornado, an expert on gems, would have recognized the fake diamond, allowing Clouseau to deduce that his suicide note was forged, and 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.
Cast
Steve Martin as Inspector Jacques Clouseau A clumsy police officer and now-recognized "Protector of the Pink Panther", who joins the Dream Team to bring the Tornado to justice and recover the Pink Panther once more.
Jean Reno as Gendarme Gilbert Ponton Clouseau's assistant and sidekick.
Emily Mortimer as Nicole Durant Clouseau's assistant and romantic interest.
Andy García as Vincenzo Roccara Squarcialupi Brancaleoni An Italian businessman who joins the Dream Team.
Yuki Matsuzaki as Kenji Mazuto A Japanese technology expert who joins the Dream Team.
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as Sonia Solandres / The Tornado An Indian corrupt criminologist and renowned chronicler of The Tornado who initially joins the Dream Team but turns out to be the antagonist of the film.
Composer Christophe Beck returned to compose the score for the sequel as well as adapting Henry Mancini's Pink Panther theme.
The Pink Panther Theme
Habanera Para Baile
Sonia's Love
Finale in C Major
Bridal Chorus
Reception
Critical response
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."[4] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 36 out of 100 based on 30 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[5] 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".[6]
Box office
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.[7] The film was released in the United Kingdom on February 13, 2009, and opened at #8.[8]
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.[9] 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).[10] It was later reported that Eddie Murphy was in talks to star in the film as Clouseau.[11] As of 2025 the film is still in development and no news has been heard on it since then.
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