Angst? What Angst?: Beorn, Bard and Tauriel are remarkably chipper after escaping the Nazgûl, despite sustaining injuries like lost limbs, ears or eyesight in the battle.
Ensemble Dark Horse: Herbert Lom's hilarious portrayal of Dreyfus here. He manages to make a dark subject (a man being slowly driven insane) absolutely hysterical. The fact that Lom goes toe-to-toe with one of the funniest men in history in Sellers and manages to steal scenes from him only adds to it. While he's also hilarious in the subsequent features, his breakdown is given a slow burn treatment here, allowing for Lom to have a field day with the hilarity.
Even Better Sequel: This is widely considered to be the best film in the series, in part because it introduces series mainstays Herbert Lom, Burt Kwouk, and Graham Stark, who were featured in every sequel following, even after Sellers' untimely passing.
Fridge Brilliance: The reason Dreyfus misses the shot during the first attempt on Clouseau is because he is shooting left-handed, since his right is in a cast.
Fridge Horror: In all the chaos of the ending, it is easy to miss that Pierre the chauffeur was the only one not guilty of murder or blackmail. So Dreyfus did kill another innocent person.
Growing the Beard: This is the first film that's actually about Clouseau, the first that introduces Dreyfus and Cato, and was the best reviewed film in the series.
Hilarious in Hindsight: At one point, Dreyfus says "Give me ten men like Clouseau and I could destroy the world!" Flash forward to The Pink Panther Strikes Again where he actually attempts to! This is even lampshaded by the 1997 VHS print of Strikes Again's plot description on the back.
Nightmare Fuel: The whole film, especially if you hate murder mysteries. The animated credits - and the jazzy theme - come right after 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 Played for Laughs, the deaths in this film are actually realistic murders.
" theme, which was also used for The Inspector animated shorts.