Not the worst of the series

Outside of Jim Jarmusch fans, many Americans had no idea who Roberto Beningni was before “Son of the Pink Panther” and after seeing it, it makes it all the funnier how this guy won an Oscar. Blake Edwards had tried to keep this franchise going several times after the death of Peter Sellars- “Trail of the Pink Panther” used old footage and was truly horrid, “Curse of the Pink Panther” tried to reboot it and didn’t work either. “Son” was the second reboot, and considered to be the worst of the whole series, but i’ll go out on a limb and say it isn’t. It’s not good, but Benigni has a certain childish, friendly charm that I like and I think works well with Edwards’ childish slapstick and irreverent jokes. He plays the French-Italian son of Inspector Clouseu, Jacques Gambrelli, a gendarme bumbler just like dad who also has a happy-go-lucky way with poetry and singing classical music that’s both carefree and tone-deaf. Herbert Lom is back as Commissioner Dreyfus, though with not much to do, as is Burt Kwouk as Clouseu’s old buddy Cato (he has the best gag in the movie when he dresses in disguise). The very sexy Claudia Cardinale also returns to the series, although here playing Gambrelli’s mother. The slapstick is few and far between though, jammed into a boring plot about rescuing a kidnapped princess (the very sexy Debrah Farentino), and even when it does get to physical comedy, Edwards keeps things as uninspired and inane as possible. A scene where Gambrelli mistakenly rides his bike into wet cement, tries to pull it out, slips, tries again, ect is pretty par for the course and there’s no real rhythm or spark to any of it. It’s like Edwards is just falling back on old hits and Beningi can do nothing more than flail along with it.