I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Return of the Pink Panther (1975)Complete with the great Mancini sax theme, the nutty smart Blake Edwards directing, the sassy cartoon panther himself, and of course Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau (taking on many absurd disguises). This is the third of the original Pink Panther movies series (omitting the oddball fourth one from 1968 that didn't have Mancini, Sellers, or Edwards), and it comes over a decade after the first two. Was the public interested? Yes--it did well. It was a great formula. Is it still a good formula in 2012?Good question. It depends on your taste. But surely the names repeated above are all cinema greats that, like Chaplin, rise above their time. But of course, Sellers, as terrific as he was, was no Charles Chaplin. At his best, the comedy is hilarious. And that makes the movie worth watching for sure. But he is sometimes a bit off in his timing, or is stuck playing a stunt that isn't worthy of him. There's also a lag in the filler material, the scenes between the great stuff. Some marginal characters (including the leading woman, who is totally a late 60s type, not a 1975 type, and she feels oddly unnecessary) don't command their parts, or their scenes. The drift begins to drift. And then you realize there isn't much of a plot. The whole recovery (sort of) of the famous Pink Panther diamond after an elaborate theft isn't really the driving force of the movie. What takes its place is a slow interplay of the characters all stumbling over each other trying to trick the perpetrator into revealing the gem. So then you are back to the stumbling as comedy, and sometimes it's great. There are so many ridiculous moments with Sellers being a bumbling fool like no one, you are sure to laugh. And that's what you're here for. "The Pink Panther" is the original, and at times also a bit sluggish, but it's the first. And "A Shot in the Dark" is the best of the three, I think. But if you like them, you'll be just fine here. If you haven't seen any, you might go in order, since the sets and music are really spot on in the first two, and a bit more transporting. There is something a little off kilter here that make it an awkward, but decent, third.

This is perhaps the best of the Pink Panther series of films ever made as Peter Sellers reprised the role of the bungling french detective of the Surette after an absence of ten years and surely was the beginning of what should have been the somewhat short-lived and fully fledged versions of these movies while the earlier two films to feature Sellers' as Clouseau, weren't all that funny. Christopher Plummer was an excellent choice as a replacement for David Niven as Charles Litton having already starred in major films like The Sound of Music although Niven reprised the role in the first posthumous "pink" movie. Blake Edwards over-directed this one and there are lots of slow motion gags throughout the film's length and is helped by some of the usually funny dialogues and disaster after disaster for the Frenchman. It is a great shame that these were cut short by the premature death of Sellers and despite his comic abilities and ideas, it became a different matter off-screen.

Peter Sellers is at it again,, this time in Return of the Pink Panther, and once again Chief Inspector Dreyfuss is hot on his trail trying to kill him,, while he is trying to track down the clever, and wily, Christopher Plummer,, the suspected thief of the famous Pink Panther diamond,, the laughs come very fast and if you're not ready will inundate you all at once,, for instance where Closeau bends over to sneeze and inspector Dreyfuss misses the shot the would have ended the whole entire Pink Panther series. granted now this one isn't as good as say the first two , but hey it's a sequel that's been going on for 11 years now,, and i think it's still pretty strong in my book,, so all in all i think this one is pretty good even as a stand alone movie.

With both their careers in somewhat decline, director Blake Edwards and actor Peter Sellers decided to team up again for another Pink Panther movie despite their love/hate relationship off screen. Also returning were Herbert Lom (now Chief Inspector Dreyfus), Andre Maranne (Francois), Burt Kwouk (Cato), and Graham Stark in a different role as snitch Pepi. And Frank Waldman, who previously co-wrote with brother Tom the non-Sellers-Edwards movie Inspector Clouseau, was Edwards' writing partner for this and the next series entry. And once again, Henry Mancini provides the score which returns the "Pink Panther" theme to the animated opening credits. Joining them were Christopher Plummer as Sir Charles Litton (replacing David Niven) and Catherine Schell as Lady Claudine Litton. With an 11-year gap between A Shot in the Dark and this, both Edwards and Sellers seemed to only improve in their collaboration of mining their talents in getting the surefire gags milked for all they're worth. And Lom, especially, is a hoot as the superior of Clouseau who gets more mentally mad every time he fails to kill him. While admittedly, Ms. Schell is a little distracting whenever she noticeably laughs at Sellers' antics, she's also at her most charming during these scenes and besides, her beautiful face makes those scenes worth it. And the way Cato surprises Clouseau are quite hilarious especially when Edwards uses slow motion. If anything slows the film down, it's the Charles Litton sequences which are the more dramatic parts of the picture. Still, even those scenes provide some humor whenever Stark as Pepi has his fingers constantly hurt by either Charles or someone else. And for the first time, The Pink Panther and The Inspector are teamed in the beginning animated credit sequence to humorous effect with Pink imitating some movie stars while The Inspector chases him. That sequence, by the way, is by Richard Williams Studio with help from Chuck Jones' animator Ken Harris. So on that note, I highly recommend The Return of the Pink Panther. P.S. Monty Python supporting player Carol Cleveland has a cameo as a Swimming Pool Diver who dives as Clouseau falls backwards into the pool. Next up, The Pink Panther Strikes Again...