History YMMV / ThePinkPanther

* IAmNotShazam: The Pink Panther is not Clouseau or, as MGM once stated, Sir Charles Litton, but the diamond that was stolen.

** Many who disliked the 2006 remake have said that the only good thing about it is the animated title sequence.

* EarWorm: The theme tunes from both ''The Pink Panther'' (which would also be used for the subsequent films) and, to a lesser extent, ''A Shot in the Dark'' - even more so once the cartoons got hold of them. The theme from ''A Shot in the Dark'' was first used in cartoons in the Panther short "Dial P For Pink" and later became the theme for the Inspector cartoons.

* ValuesDissonance: In the Sellers films, Clouseau often refers to Cato as "you yellow x" or "my yellow x". The reboot dropped Cato and replaced him with Ponton, a French policeman, and the second film makes Clouseau an insensitive lecher who [[EqualOpportunityOffender blatantly stereotypes everyone he meets by nationality or ethnicity]], and plays it for laughs.[[note]]Although ask some people, it's a somewhat popular stereotype of the French to pinpoint one aspect of someone's origins, be it ethnic or class, and use it against them.[[/note]]

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The [[https://youtu.be/ErzFTZ_zVhc intro]] to the 1993 cartoon, which is an upbeat rendition of the classic theme.

** Downplayed, if not outright averted, by Marie Jouvet, who carries the Clouseau-less parts of ''Trail'' after his disappearance. Instead of just being a Clouseau {{Expy}}, she's depicted as a [[StraightMan Straight Woman]] getting a glimpse into the inspector's mad world, and is helped by Joanna Lumley's strong performance. Some fans feel that ''Curse'' would have turned out a lot better if it had kept with her as the main character, instead of bringing in Clifton Sleigh.

** "I would like a damburgah!" for Steve Martin's Clouseau in the reboot.

** For some fans and/or critics, anyone who is not Creator/PeterSellers and still gets to play Clouseau. YMMV, though Alan Arkin and Steve Martin portrayed Clouseau very well, Sellers is and always will be the one and only Clouseau. ''Trail of'' even lampshades this at the beginning of the credits with a tribute message to Sellers saying "To Peter, the one and only inspector Clouseau."

** ''Trail'' and ''Curse'' bringing back Creator/DavidNiven as Sir Charles and then having Rich Little overdub his weak voice, rather than the more logical options of either bringing back Creator/ChristopherPlummer or having George Litton take over Sir Charles's role in the plot.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: The added LaughTrack did the later theatrical shorts no favors. Not helped at all by it being used in a series with almost no dialogue, which made it even more distracting than usual.

* AwesomeMusic: The [[https://youtu.be/ErzFTZ_zVhc intro]] to the 1993 cartoon, which is an upbeat rendition of the classic theme.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: The added LaughTrack did the '70s-era shorts no favors. Not helped at all by it being used in a show with almost no dialogue, which made it even more distracting than usual.

* NightmareFuel: [[NightmareFuel/PinkPanther see here.]]

Music/HenryMancini's epic "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0YI9c3jc90 Pink Panther Theme]]", of course. Each film would have a different version of it, but the original is the most remembered.

!!The films

* ''YMMV/ThePinkPanther2006''

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
** Music/HenryMancini's epic "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0YI9c3jc90 Pink Panther Theme]]", of course. Each film would have a different version of it, but the original is the most remembered.

* CrossesTheLineTwice: The RunningGag involving a gun and a cigarette lighter that ''looks'' like a gun in ''Return''.
** Most of ''A Shot in the Dark'' and ''The Pink Panther Strikes Again'', even for a BlackComedy.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: And how; the 1963 version of ''The Pink Panther'' was meant to be the first in a series of films about the Phantom, the master thief played by David Niven who stole the eponymous diamond, but ended up being all about Clouseau.

** Among the animated title sequences, Creator/RichardWilliams' for ''Return...'' is considered the best and most memorable.

* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome: The opening heist of the diamond in ''The Return of the Pink Panther'' is done straight and is surprisingly suspenseful. It may also count as a BigLippedAlligatorMoment, since the rest of the movie is an all-out comedy.
** The animated title sequence to the same film may also count. Many consider it the best of the series, courtesy of Creator/RichardWilliams.

* NightmareFuel: The whole of ''A Shot in the Dark'', especially if you hate murder mysteries. The animated credits - and the jazzy theme - come right after [[spoiler:the first of eight murders]]. It's the darkest of all films (especially because all the other films are about theft/fraud/kidnapping rather than murder). While the characters' deaths in other films are basically PlayedForLaughs (remember the carnival scene in ''Strikes Again''?), the deaths in this film are actually ''realistic'' murders.
** ''Strikes Again'' has the creepy castle, the giant laser cannon that can make entire buildings disappear and the creepy organ.
** Some of Clouseau's disguises look like this, though it's more for comic relief.
** The sequence in the first film with Charles and George dressed as gorillas can be quite unsettling in a bizarre, surreal way. The way they stalk each other around the vault seeming to be unaware that the other is there. And then the following car chase where instead of showing the chase itself, you see an old pedestrian crossing the road while the cars speed by one by one, without any music, only the sound of screeching tires. The audience could feel the same way the old man does, confused and bemused.
* OneSceneWonder / MsFanservice: Fran Jeffries, a model, singer and future ''Magazine/{{Playboy}}'' nude, performing "Meglio Stasera", while shimmying around the ski-lodge party in tight pants and turtleneck [[SweaterGirl sweater]], in the first film.
** The number opens with a [[MaleGaze loving closeup of her shaking her rear end]].

* SurprisinglyImprovedSequel: ''A Shot in the Dark'' is regarded by many as the best of the films.
** ''The Pink Panther Strikes Again'' is considered by many to be better than the previous movie, ''Return'', if not the best in the series.
* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: The thoughts on the original series after Peter Sellers died.

** Closeau's [[PaperThinDisguise ridiculous Chinese disguise]] when he, Simone, and Cato arrive in Hong Kong in ''Revenge''. While obviously PlayedForLaughs, it's highly unlikely that would make it into a film nowadays.
* WereStillRelevantDammit: For ''Revenge of the Pink Panther'', the fact that it was now the late 1970s rather than the early 1960s was played up quite a bit. For the opening titles, they even had a ''disco version'' of the classic theme. It could have been TotallyRadical, but Henry Mancini [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mp9-1qQM49M knocked it out of the park.]]

** ''Trail'' and ''Curse'' bringing back David Niven as Sir Charles and then having Rich Little overdub his weak voice, rather than the more logical options of either bringing back Christopher Plummer or having George Litton take over Sir Charles's role in the plot.

** If it helps, Ted Wass claimed he never wanted to be an actor in the first place, as directing was always his main interest. In fact, when he was cast in the series ''Blossom'', one of the sti[ulations in his contract was that he'd be allowed to direct some episodes so he could jump start that career.

* NightmareFuel:
** The big green asterisk from "Pink Punch".
** "Pinknic" featured the Panther starving in a snowbound cabin with an insane mouse trying to eat him alive. There's a POV shot of Pink struggling to stay awake and unable to get away from the mouse as it slowly approaches him with a hammer. It feels like something out of a horror movie.

* NightmareFuel: The big green asterisk from "Pink Punch".
** Also, "Pinknic" featured the Pink Panther starving in a snowbound cabin with an insane mouse who kept trying to eat him alive. There's a POV shot of Pink struggling to stay awake and unable to get away from the mouse as it slowly approaches him with a hammer, which feels like something out of a horror movie.

* MoralEventHorizon: Dreyfus [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope jumped off the slippery slope]] in Film/AShotInTheDark when he kills 4 innocent bystanders and [[NonFatalExplosions injures five murderers and one blackmailer]] trying to kill Clouseau. In [[Film/TheReturnOfThePinkPanther ''Return'']], he inadvertently kills his psychiatrist when imagining himself strangling Clouseau to death, shoots Francois in the arm mistaking a real gun for his lighter (AGAIN), and kills the film's BigBad when Clouseau ducks to check his fly. Finally, in [[Film/ThePinkPantherStrikesAgain ''Strikes Again'']], he escapes the insane asylum and, after another failed attempt to kill Clouseau, goes Bond Villain and threatens to destroy the world unless they kill Clouseau, destroys the United Nations building, and arguably ruins the life of a good scientist. When he had Professor Fassbender kidnapped and forced to build a DisintegratorRay [[IHaveYourWife using Fassbender's daughter Margo as leverage]], therefore forcing Fassbender to be an accomplice against his own free will, the Professor likely got arrested along with Dreyfus' surviving henchmen, who followed Dreyfus willingly unlike the Professor. He likely was able to get a reduced sentence to help prosecute Dreyfus' henchmen since Fassbender wanted nothing to do with Dreyfus' madness and criminal gang anyway, but with Dreyfus destroyed (assuming [[Film/RevengeOfThePinkPanther Revenge]] and [[{{Sequelitis}} the post-Peter Sellers sequels]] [[CanonDiscontinuity didn't happen]]), Jean Tournier killed pretending to be Clouseau in order to try killing Clouseau himself (despite Dreyfus' warning), and [[MutualKill one of the kidnappers killed by Fassbender's butler Jarvis after mortally wounding Jarvis]], the sentence wouldn't be reduced as much. So Margo would have to spend time without her father, not to mention dealing with the murder of their butler, all thanks to that raving lunatic Dreyfus!

* ReplacementScrappy: Two, in Clifton Sleigh (in ''Curse'') and Jacques Gambrelli/Clouseau Jr. (in ''Son of''), since both characters and actors were fighting a losing battle with the memory of Clouseau. Many fans didn't appreciate it very well that there could be other people like Clouseau in the world. However, Clifton and Jacques II are a bit more sane and sophisticated then Clouseau Sr., and are simply klutzy while Clouseau is a total fool.

** Among the animated title sequences, Creator/RichardWillaims' for ''Film/ReturnOfThePinkPanther'' is considered the best and most memorable.