Review: The Pink Panther Cartoon Collection (in five volumes) [on DVD]

The Pink Panther Cartoon Collection (in five volumes) 

[DVD j Pink] 

The animated character The Pink Panther has a long and unusual history. Director Blake Edwards originally commissioned the creation of the graphic character for his 1963 live-action film, The Pink Panther, which introduced actor Peter Sellers as the bumbling Inspector Clouseau. In the first film in the series, Clouseau is on the trail of jewel thief The Phantom, who is out to steal the legendary Pink Panther diamond. Edwards liked the concept art that DePatie-Freleng Entertainment came up with so much, he asked them to created animated credits for the film, featuring the slinky pink feline. The Pink Panther credits were so popular (a large part of the success of the first film is attributed to people loving those credits), that the Panther character graces almost all subsequent Pink Panther movies, and was spun off into a series of 124 short films, 10 TV shows and 4 TV specials.

The 124 short theatrical films have been packaged and released in five single-disc DVD sets (the libraries own the first four of these). Each volume contains between 20 and 25 of the 6-minute theatrical cartoons, plus special features. Some of the special features include voice-over commentary tracks by animators, writers, and film-historians. Some are mini-documentaries on the history of the making of the early versions of the theatrical cartoons. I particularly enjoyed “Behind the Feline: The Cartoon Phenomenon” (featuring interviews with producer David DePatie and filmmaker Blake Edwards) on Set 3. If you grew up watching the Pink Panther, either as animated shorts attached to feature films, or in his various TV-show versions, this will be a fun trip down memory lane to sample these DVDs. If you’re only vaguely familiar with the character of The Pink Panther, then these are essential viewing — enjoy experiencing animated cartoons set to a jazzy soundtrack, and featuring absolutely no dialog!

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try any of the Pink Panther films by Blake Edwards, starring Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau, in order to experience the context in which audiences were first introduced to this slinky feline character.]

[ official Pink Panther character page on Wikipedia ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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