Aishwarya Rai as Sonia in The Pink Panther 2

Aishwarya Rai as Sonia in The Pink Panther 2. I think it's time to shelve comparisons of Peter Sellers iconic take of Inspector Jacques Clouseau with that of Steve Martin's. Take it like a total reboot, not necessarily for the better of course, since the franchise thus far has taken Clouseau into more slapstick, as well as quite surprisingly, turning him into both a sexist and a racist, excuses being he's a total nincompoop.

Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber's story makes no apologies in being offensive and politically incorrect, and taking Jacques Clouseau in the same direction of distaste deliberately, so that some non-witty exchange could take place between Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin, who plays the etiquette officer locking horns with Clouseau to try and rehabilitate his crude mannerisms. Some jokes too get repackaged and recycled in a different form, carrying over one hamburger joke too many left over from the first Martin-Pink Panther movie in 2006.

In fact, not only does that get brought over, but the entire plot involving international heists committed by the mysterious Tornado, unfortunately had a similar Eureka moment to 2006's, proving that lightning does get to strike twice in a plot that feels right at home to a Scooby Doo cartoon. Given renowned and valuable artifacts being stolen from their exhibition home, including The Pink Panther diamond, an international Dream Team of detectives get assembled to solve the crime, headed none other than Clouseau himself, based on his past conquest in retrieving the diamond.

So with that comes an opportunity to put an international ensemble cast together, which actually seemed a good idea, if not for an average story involving love triangles against a backdrop of crime-solving which breezed through quite quickly. Returning are John Cleese (well, since Bond didn't requier a quartermaster for fancy gadgets, he's got to look for a job, right?), Jean Reno as Ponton the Watson to Clouseau's Holmes, and Emily Mortimer as Clouseau's secretary Nicole with whom we learn they share plenty of personal romantic time together in a restaurant scene that played on too long.