Unlike the two films before it, this film has something really special going for it...star Roberto Benigni. Rather than walking through his scenes like Sellers was apt to do when provided with less than challenging material, Benigni is overflowing with comic energy regardless of the drawbacks of the script. He dominates every scene he appears in...even when he doesn't have any lines he's always doing little bits of comic business that capture the viewers attention. When he's not onscreen the movie flatlines and doesn't come alive again until he reappears.

Another thing this film has going for it is the entertaining opening credits sequence featuring the Pink Panther and Jacques Clouseau Jr.-in animated form-interacting with Bobby McFerrin and his fellow singers performing a terrific acapella rendition of The Pink Panther Theme. The animation is far superior to anything seen since Richard Williams work on The Pink Panther Strikes Again and is reminiscent of Who Framed Roger Rabbit. It's a short sequence, but gets the movie off to a promising start.

However, the movie falters badly around the halfway mark when director Blake Edwards decides to once again incorporate supporting characters from previous films (he tried to prop up the previous two films by doing exactly the same thing, with dire results). Rather than introduce a new lead comic character and move forward, Clouseau Jr. is weighed down by the pointless reintroduction of characters from the Peter Sellers movies. The film stops dead in its tracks when Benigni visits costumer Auguste Balls (played by Graham Stark and not Harvey Korman, as in 'Trail') and meets Kato who joins Clouseau Jr. on his case. Herbert Lom also appears as Dreyfuss, but Lom is much more subdued in this film. The eye-twitching is still there, but he's no longer the gibbering headcase of the Sellers Clouseau films. He's the one returning element that works.

Forget about plot or story (I did!) as the only reason to see this film is for Benigni's wonderful performance. With a stronger script and less reliance on characters from the preceeding films, this film could have launched a new revitalised Pink Panther film series. Unfortunately Blake Edwards found it impossible to let go of the past, and the film became nothing more than an interesting curio as a result.