Post by Clouseau on Feb 12, 2007 16:53:36 GMT
shortly after the 2006 film was released, i became aware that Max Allan Collins had written a novelization for The Pink Panther, and i've been very interested in seeing how this story would play out in novel form... i put it off for some time, but now i've finally gotten my chance!
Paperback
July 2005
257 pages
this story, as you know, is the novelization of the 2006 film starring Steve Martin; however there are several marked differences between the film and the novel, so i would imagine that even if you are not a fan of Martin's Clouseau, you might still find plenty to enjoy about this book!
now trivia buffs may recall that the 2006 film was originally slated for a July 2005 release, but when Sony acquired MGM, extensive reshoots were required because Sony wanted the film to get a PG rating, rather than a PG-13... several of the deleted scenes that came as a result of these reshoots were included on the DVD, but not all of them were included (we know this from comparing the trailers for the film to the actual film)... this novelization was planned to be released alongside the film at its original release date, however, so the novel we are presented with gives us a clearer view of what the film might originally have looked like, had the reshoots not been instituted... this means that while the basic premise of the story and the final outcome are still the same, there are several scenes in the book that never happened in the film, and vice versa...
a second point worth noting is that while Clouseau is described as having white hair - pointing to Steve Martin's version of the character - and while the story uses many of the same jokes from the film, Collins does not write Clouseau the way Martin performed him... when supposedly speaking in French, Clouseau does not mispronounce words, but has many misunderstandings about certain words'/phrases' meanings... when supposedly speaking in English (and the distinction is clearly noted by the author), then we see the mispronounced words added to the previous flaw... also, Collins' Clouseau has a way unique of speaking, in which he often mixes up his structure sentence (not that it's terribly funny, but it does set his character apart from the rest)...
as for style, i must say i found Collins to be quite refreshing after reading Cerasini and Alfonsi's The Pink Panther's Just Desserts (i do still plan on reading "...Gets Lucky" in the near future, though, just out of curiosity)... the dialogue seems to flow much better and everything seems fairly realistic! some of the things Clouseau does are still absurdly ridiculous, but that's Clouseau's fault, not Collins'!
for those of you who are fans of the 2006 film, though, and who worry that perhaps this will be too different for your tastes, let me assuage your doubts by saying that although there are many differences, the basic plot remains relatively the same, and since this was intended to coincide with the film's release, there are about 8 pages of photos from the film, set together as a sort of teaser for the film (including one photo of Clouseau playing roulette - another scene that was evidently shot but not included in the final film!)...
all-in-all, because of the changes in the story, and because of the changes in speech patterns, etc. (Dreyfus does have his trademark eye-twitch in the novel, too, btw), it's a very different experience from watching the 2006 film, and i highly recommend this to any fan of the Panther series, whether you liked the '06 film or not!
Paperback
July 2005
257 pages
this story, as you know, is the novelization of the 2006 film starring Steve Martin; however there are several marked differences between the film and the novel, so i would imagine that even if you are not a fan of Martin's Clouseau, you might still find plenty to enjoy about this book!
now trivia buffs may recall that the 2006 film was originally slated for a July 2005 release, but when Sony acquired MGM, extensive reshoots were required because Sony wanted the film to get a PG rating, rather than a PG-13... several of the deleted scenes that came as a result of these reshoots were included on the DVD, but not all of them were included (we know this from comparing the trailers for the film to the actual film)... this novelization was planned to be released alongside the film at its original release date, however, so the novel we are presented with gives us a clearer view of what the film might originally have looked like, had the reshoots not been instituted... this means that while the basic premise of the story and the final outcome are still the same, there are several scenes in the book that never happened in the film, and vice versa...
a second point worth noting is that while Clouseau is described as having white hair - pointing to Steve Martin's version of the character - and while the story uses many of the same jokes from the film, Collins does not write Clouseau the way Martin performed him... when supposedly speaking in French, Clouseau does not mispronounce words, but has many misunderstandings about certain words'/phrases' meanings... when supposedly speaking in English (and the distinction is clearly noted by the author), then we see the mispronounced words added to the previous flaw... also, Collins' Clouseau has a way unique of speaking, in which he often mixes up his structure sentence (not that it's terribly funny, but it does set his character apart from the rest)...
as for style, i must say i found Collins to be quite refreshing after reading Cerasini and Alfonsi's The Pink Panther's Just Desserts (i do still plan on reading "...Gets Lucky" in the near future, though, just out of curiosity)... the dialogue seems to flow much better and everything seems fairly realistic! some of the things Clouseau does are still absurdly ridiculous, but that's Clouseau's fault, not Collins'!
for those of you who are fans of the 2006 film, though, and who worry that perhaps this will be too different for your tastes, let me assuage your doubts by saying that although there are many differences, the basic plot remains relatively the same, and since this was intended to coincide with the film's release, there are about 8 pages of photos from the film, set together as a sort of teaser for the film (including one photo of Clouseau playing roulette - another scene that was evidently shot but not included in the final film!)...
all-in-all, because of the changes in the story, and because of the changes in speech patterns, etc. (Dreyfus does have his trademark eye-twitch in the novel, too, btw), it's a very different experience from watching the 2006 film, and i highly recommend this to any fan of the Panther series, whether you liked the '06 film or not!
