The Pink Panther: Back in Action

The Pink Panther: Back in Action is a 2004 American live-action/animated spy action comedy film directed by Joe Dante and written by Larry Doyle. The plot follows the The Pink Panther characters Green Eagle and Pink Pantheras they help a bumbling police officer Inspector Jacques Clouseau, a capable police officer Gendarme Gilbert Ponton, an undercover detective Sammy Moore, an engineer Randy Warren, aspiring daredevil Diego Marquez and MGM executive/jungle explorer Dora Marquez find the "Blue Monkey" diamond, to prevent the evil Lord Business and his Chancellor Howard of the Kragle Corporation from using it to turn mankind into monkeys that will manufacture his products and using the power of kragle from gluing everything into his vision of perfection; the group also attempts to rescue Diego's father, an actor and spy who has been captured by Lord Business. The animation was directed by John Dante, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. It was made following the success of Rink Fusion (1998), to which it was originally developed as a sequel, titled Pink Panther and the Inspection Squad.

The film was theatrically released in the United States on February 13, 2004, by DreamWorks Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn Mayer Picutres and was a box-office flop, grossing $68.5 million worldwide against an $80 million budget. It received mixed to positive reviews from critics, and many considered it an improvement over Rink Fusion. Critics praised the animation and humor, but criticized the screenplay.

Plot
In the Lost City of Gold, the detective John is gone missing when he fails to protect a superweapon called the "Kragle", a tube of Krazy Glue with the label partially scratched, and the priceless Pink Panther diamond from the evil Lord Business, but prophesies that a person called "The Special" will find the Pink Panther diamond capable of stopping the Kragle. Lord Business claims it false and kicks John off a cliff, with the Pink Panther nowhere to be found.

Weary of playing villainous roles in Pink Panther's cartoons, Green Eagle demands his own cartoon from MGM who believes he is an actual pink panther. Pink Panther impresses the other directors with his various features, and becomes MGM's new favorite cartoon, making Green Eagle jealous, but instead is fired by "Vice President of Comedy" Dora Marquez. Security guard and struggling stuntman Diego Marquez is asked to escort Green Eagle off the studio lot; in the ensuing chase, a Batmobile demolishes the studio water tower, and Diego is also fired. With Green Eagle close behind, At the ceremony, the title is instead given to his co-worker Will Wolf. Bob Kong explains to Purple Seal that Will Wolf is more mature and that he is "just a clown" who would be unable to handle the task, upsetting Purple Seal, Yellow Rat decides to go looking for John. He enters around a corner and emerges into an atrium, noticing a group of Kragle workers standing at the other end. Pink Cheetah trails into the room behind him and calls his name to get his attention. This gets the attention of the Kragle, and one of them, Red Fox, makes fun of Yellow Rat's size-like name. This causes Yellow Rat to run up to the Kragle workers and bite Red Fox in the nose. The other Kragle workers quickly grab Yellow Rat and start beating him up. Red Fox kicks Yellow Ratin the head, knocking him out. Diego returns home; he receives a message from his father, film star John McCain, who is an undercover secret agent. John instructs his son to travel to Las Vegas, contact his associate Xania, and find a mystical diamond called the "Pink Panther". Afterwards, John is captured by the Kragle Corporation, led by the eccentric Lord Business. DJ and Green Eagle leave for Las Vegas.

Upon learning of Green Eagle and Diego's mission, Lord Business deploys Big Nose and Black Ferret to destroy them. They are given the CDI ("Computer-Degenerating Imagery"), a laptop-like weapon that can trap cartoon characters within the Internet. Lord Business and his henchman Grey Bear torture the Yellow Rat into revealing the location of the other fairytale creatures, which Yellow Rat spits in Business's face. The Black Ferret interrupts the interrogation to announce that they have found the Kragle, much to Lord Business's excitement. Lord Business boasts that the Lost City is the "most perfect kingdom of them all", only for the Chancellor to inform him that he is not actually a king and therefore, Lost City isn’t an official kingdom.

Although Clouseau makes little progress in the case, due to his clumsiness, he still discovers that many people hated Gluant and even wanted to kill him. Bizu, a France player who blamed Gluant for "stealing away" Xania, is the prime murder suspect until he is shot in the head in the team's locker room. While gathering information at a casino, Clouseau meets Dora and her fellow executives Sammy and Randy. Due to Dora’s intelligence, Sammy sees her as her ally. Still, Randy is amused by Dora’s intelligence and her being very nice to him and develops a crush on her, who foils a robbery while wearing Clouseau's trench coat; Clouseau mistakenly receives credit and is nominated for the Légion d'honneur. That night, Purple Seal heads to his favorite restaurant, Happy Freezie's Creamery, where he drowns his sorrows in ice cream with his best friend Blue Panther, and wakes up the next morning with a hangover. Lord Business goes to the Krispy Kong to confront Bob Kong about his stolen plans. The still-hungover Purple Seal also arrives and bad-mouths Bob Kong, Lord Business freezes Bob Kong with Kragle and therefore Purple Seal and Blue Panther will meet up Diego and Green Eagle at Las Vegas before it's too late.

Meanwhile, Pink Panther's routines fail without Green Eagle. Dora realizes she must find and rehire Green Eagle, or face being fired by her own superiors. Pink Panther informs Dora of the situation; they head to Diego's home, find Johnny's spy car, and use it to pursue Diego and Green Eagle. In Las Vegas, Diego and Green Eagle meet Xania in a casino owned by Big Nose, who happens to be an associate of the Kragle Corporation. Xania gives them a strange playing card, which is a clue to finding the diamond. The following day, on a class field trip to a museum, Dora and the others are lured to its off-exhibit archives, where they are captured by mercenaries led by Powell, Big Nose and his henchmen attack them for the card, but Diego and Green Eagle flee in the spy car with Clouseau, Ponton, Sammy, Randy, Pink Panther and Dora rescues Blue Panther and Purple Seal, believing them to be the Special. The flying car crashes in the Great Basin Desert, where Mooch J. Mongoose tries to stop the group and get the card, but is foiled. When they land, a man named Alejandro, who claims to be a friend of Dora's parents, helps them escape. In the process, the mercenaries, aided by Swiper, steal Dora's map. Alejandro reports that Dora's parents have gone missing and that the mercenaries are searching for them in hopes of getting into Parapata to steal its treasures.

The group eventually stumbles upon Area 52, run by a woman called 'Mother'. She plays a video recording for them, which reveals that the Blue Monkey has the power to devolve humans into monkeys, and evolve them back again. Irwin the Invader, who was imprisoned in the facility, leads a group of fellow aliens in an attempt to get the card, but Dora's group escapes. Seeing that the card has Mona Lisa 's face on it, the group conclude they must view the painting in the Louvre, located in Paris.

At the Louvre, they discover that the card contains a viewing window; when one looks at the Mona Lisa through it, one can see a map of Africa hidden beneath. Pink Panther and Green Eagle's co-star, Bertrand Thud, appears, reveals himself as an Kragle henchmen, and chases Pink Panther and Green Eagle in and out of paintings to obtain the card. Meanwhile, Dora is kidnapped by Aardvark and Powell, Lord Business's bodyguard. Diego, Clouseau, Ponton, Sammy and Randy rescues Dora, and Bertrand disintegrates into tiny dots after jumping through A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.

Diego, Dora, Sammy, Randy, Clouseau, Ponton, Blue Panther, Purple Seal, Pink Panther, and Green Eagle travel to Africa, meeting Mrs. Chubalingo, Zeke, and Carl, who escort them to the ruins of a jungle temple where they find the blue monkey, Inside the hidden city, Dora and the others solve its temple's puzzles and dodge its traps, bringing them to the central shrine. Alejandro, having secretly followed them, arrives as the group reaches its final test. discovering that it was only acting hostile toward people wearing Kragle gear. When the group deduces that the animals have realized something sinister about the company, as the "krazy glue" part of its name is "kragle" the type of weapon, they are then captured by Lord Business's robots when they attempt to go back and warn Pink Panther. However, Mrs. Chubalingo and company reveal themselves to be Howard Clifford, Powell, Christopher, Viper, Christina X, and Zag Badger in disguise. Howard Clifford uses a disintegration gun to teleport everybody to the Kragle headquarters, and promises to release Johnny if Diego gives him the blue diamond. However, he reneges once he has the diamond.

Irwin is sent to place the blue monkey in an Kragle satellite's ray gun; with it, Lord Business and Howard Clifford plans to turn the entire human population (except himself) to monkeys to make his products, then back to humans again to buy them. Pink Panther devises a plan to infiltrate Business's headquarters and disarm the Kragle. The plan almost succeeds until Pink Panther and his friends are captured and imprisoned. Meanwhile, the heroes' plane begins to lose altitude due to the combined weight. Blue Panther follows Pink Cheetah to the tower to stop the broadcast, but they are captured by Big Nose and Black Ferret. Lord Business initiates his plan and broadcasts programs to brainwash and krage-lize most of the country. Inspector Clouseau realizes the animals are being held at the bottom of the Tower with glue, and Lord Business appears, revealing that he really was behind everything (having manipulated Alejandro into helping him) and plans kraglize the Pink Panther and his friends with the Kragle. After witnessing Inspector Clouseau's mistreatment of Alejandro, he had to help Ponton out to feign allegiance with Alejandro to access his map and identify the location of every diamond in Paris. Inspector Clouseau and Gilbert Ponton agree to work together a final time to save the Pink Panther and his friends, and they and Dora head to the stairs on a drone. Diego and Dora rescue John from a death trap, whilst Pink Panther and Green Eagle chase Irwin into space. Pink Panther is thwarted by Irwin, prompting Green Eagle to become Eagle Chasers in order to destroy the blue monkey. Lord Business uses his new abilities to create a giant robot resembling himself. while Dora and Diego discovers that Johnny is a Voodoo Man, and that the real Johnny was tied up and gagged by Red Fox and Indigo Raven. Pink Panther, Eagle Chasers, Blue Panther, and Purple Seal work together to fight the robot and its accompanying drones and to reclaim the Master Emerald; however, it breaks, splitting into the seven Chaos Emeralds. Clouseau, Ponton, Dora, Diego, Sammy and Randy save Pink Panther, who uses the Chaos Emeralds to transform into Super Pink. As Dora and Diego watches Pink Panther use the golden sword to fight against Lord Business, Blue Panther uses a jet pack to land on Lord Business's Headquarters, where he fights Reggie and Ronnie. Purple Seal helps Blue Panther by throwing a pie at the gargoyles. He eventually catches up to them, but Yellow Rat attacks him, enabling Blue Panther, Clouseau, Ponton and Purple Seal to hurl Aardvark through a door, which they then destroy. Clouseasu, Ponton, Dora, Diego, Sammy and Randy then fights Howard Clifford, who is flattened by a steamroller but survives, revealing himself as a disguised toon–and Clifford uses a device to reveal his true form the one who killed John. Clouseau, Ponton, Dora, and Diego empties the machine's supply onto the factory floor, They eventually defeat Clifford by spraying it all over Clifford and melting him to turn him back to normal. He destroys the robot before dispersing the Emeralds and reverting to normal. Clouseau frees Bob Kong and washed out the Kragle and Blue Panther accidentally activates the CDI, transforming the villains back to their animated forms and banishing them to the Internet once and for all. Lord Business is the only one transformed into a monkey, and is arrested. Pink Panther and Green Eagle return to Earth, where Green Eagle discovers the whole adventure was staged to make a film; however, Pink Panther promises Green Eagle they will be equal partners. Green Eagle is then crushed by the PinkStation iris. Purple Seal attempts to close the film with "That's all, folks!", but the studio shuts down first, and he tells the audience to "go home, folks".

Cast

 * Isabela Moner as Dora, a 16-year-old jungle explorer and the main protagonist from Dora the Explorer
 * Jeff Wahlberg as Diego, Dora's cousin and the main protagonist of Go, Diego, Go! who becomes Sammy’s boyfriend
 * Madeleine Madden as Sammy Moore, a teenage girl who is friends with Dora, Diego and Randy and becomes Diego’s girlfriend
 * Nicholas Coombe as Randy Warren, a teenage boy who is friends with Dora, Diego and Sammy and has a crush on Dora.
 * Steve Martin as Inspector Jacques Clouseau, a bumbling police officer from a small village in France, assigned to bring Yves Gluant's murderer to justice and recover the Pink Panther diamond
 * Kevin Kline as Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus, the head of the French police who is obsessed with winning the Medal of Honour, and means to use Clouseau and the Pink Panther case to win it
 * Jean Reno as Gendarme Gilbert Ponton, a capable police officer who is assigned to report to Dreyfus on Clouseau's actions
 * Emily Mortimer as Nicole Durant, a secretary and romantic interest of Clouseau
 * Will Arnett as Lord Business
 * Bill Nighy as Howard Clifford, the disabled visionary chancellor and founder of Kragle Corporation.
 * Corey Burton as Howard Clifford (true form)'s toon voice
 * Beyoncé as Xania, a famous pop star and girlfriend of Gluant
 * Joan Cusack as Mother
 * Bruce Willis as John McClane
 * Eugenio Derbez as Alejandro Gutierrez, a treasure hunter who introduces himself as a professor at the National University of San Marcos. However, he ends up being the boss of the mercenaries. Some of his known treasure heists include the Crown Jewels of the Ivory Coast and the Comtesse de Vendome.
 * Temuera Morrison as Powell, a mercenary who serves as Alejandro's second-in-command.
 * Christopher Kirby as Viper, a mercenary who had a history of being "yo-yo'd".
 * Natasa Ristic as Christina X, a female mercenary.
 * Dick Miller as Security Guard (cameo)
 * Roger Corman as Hollywood Director (cameo)
 * Paula Abdul as herself (cameo)
 * Jeff Gordon as himself (cameo)
 * Kevin McCarthy as Dr. Miles Bennell (cameo)
 * Joe Thornton as himself (cameo via archive footage from Rink Fusion)
 * Marc Lawrence as Kragle VP, Stating the Obvious
 * Ron Perlman as Kragle VP, Never Learning
 * Robert Picardo as Kragle VP, Rhetorical Questions

Voices
Mooch J. Mongoose appears in the film but does not speak.
 * Owen Wilson as Pink Panther
 * Tom Hanks as Green Eagle
 * John Byner as Ant, and Aardvark
 * Wallace Shawn as Big Nose
 * Jeff Bennett as Crazylegs Crane, Japanese Beetle, and Will Wolf
 * Eddie Deezen as Bertrand Thud
 * Jim Ward as Zeke the Purple Cat
 * Hank Arazia as Toro
 * Debi Derryberry as Dragonfly
 * Billy West as Blue Racer, Danny the Duck and Pancho
 * Mr. Lawrence as Irwin the Invader
 * Rob Paulsen as Yellow Rat, and Timmy Turkey
 * Bill Kopp as Carl Canary
 * Carlos Alazraqui as Red Fox
 * Steve Buscemi as Indigo Raven
 * Jo Anney Worley as Mrs. Chubalingo
 * Tom Kenny as Purple Seal
 * Bill Fagerbakke as Blue Panther
 * Jim Cummings as Zag Badger and Zara Badger
 * Holly Hunter as Pink Cheetah
 * Patrick Warburton as Bob Kong
 * Lori Allen as Queen Kong
 * Daran Norris as Manny Shark
 * Ted Lewis as Black Ferret
 * John DiMaggio as Grey Bear
 * Richard Steven Horvitz as Orange Warthog
 * Dan Castellaneta as Toby Turtle, and Voodoo Man
 * Roger Rose as Rick Ram
 * Clancy Brown as Mitch Moose
 * Danny Mann as Robo Dog and Spy Car
 * Dexter Fletcher as Reggie: a gargoyle.
 * Javone Prince as Ronnie: a gargoyle.
 * Greg Cipes as Boots, a monkey who is Dora's best friend and partner.
 * Benicio del Toro as Swiper, a sneaky red fox who conspires to swipe useful things from Dora and has allied with the mercenaries.
 * Mel Blanc as Gremlin Car (archive recordings)
 * Paul Julian as Sal Snake (archive recordings) (uncredited)

Cameos

 * Burt Reynolds as Charles "Charlie" B. Barkin
 * Dom DeLuise as Itchiford "Itchy Itchiford" Dachshund
 * Daran Norris as Frog
 * Maddie Blaustien as Ferret
 * Gregg Berger as Orson Pig
 * Howard Morris as Wade Duck
 * Thom Huge as Roy Rooster
 * Martin Short as Hubie
 * Jim Belushi as Rocko

Development
Coming soon!

Animation
While the film was produced by MGM Animation, the animation was mainly outsourced to Yowza! Animation in Canada. Additionally, the animation was also outsourced to Saerom Animation in Seoul, South Korea and Wang Film Productions in Taipei, Taiwan. Fox hired James Baxter, Mike Reeves, and Walt Disney Feature Animation's Mark Henn to direct the animation. Charlie and Itchy's cameos were done by Don Bluth Studios, who animated the original All Dogs Go To Heaven films.

Soundtrack

 * Main article: The Pink Panther: Back in Action/Soundtrack

Released on May 19, 2004, by Varèse Sarabande, the music for the film was composed by Christophe Black.

Release
The Pink Panther: Back in Action was released on February 3, 2004. On February 13, 2004, the film premiered at Mann's Grauman Chinese Theater in Hollywood, California, with the cast and filmmakers as attendees.

The film was originally scheduled for release on November 14, 2003, but on December 8, 2003, the film's release date was pushed back a month later to February 13, 2004 to give the visual effects team more time to finish the film.

Home media
The Pink Panther: Back in Action was released on VHS, and DVD on June 15, 2004, by MGM Home Entertainment. It included a sneak peek of Hans and the Mythical Blades (2007). It was later released on Blu-ray with bonus features on May 29, 2012. The Pink Panther: Back in Action was released for the first time on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on April 26, 2022.

Marketing
Accompanied with the theatrical release, MGM released a series of plush items, toys, activity sets, keepsakes and apparel.

Coinciding with the film's release, Burger King had a promotional tie-in with six toys with a paid Kids' Meal order, and ran a series of Pink Panther-themed television adverts to promote this. Customers could also purchase one of four different Pink Panther-themed watches for $1.99 with the purchase of a value meal. Doughnut chain Krispy Kreme also served a limited-edition "Pink Panther Doughnut" in February 2004. GoAnimate promoted the film with several promotional spots, alongside the sweepstakes for the film's merchandise and a trip to Hollywood, which appeared on GoAnimate.com but later expired on August 31, 2004. A new balloon themed after Pink Panther and Green Eagle debuted at the 2004 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Ice cream chain Baskin-Robbins also promoted the film for its new Pink Panther's Loaded Sundae, a combination of Oreo Cookies 'n Cream ice cream, hot fudge, crushed chocolate cookies, whipped cream, and sprinkles. Sony also produced a limited edition Pink Panther PlayStation Portable console. This was to support the film's DVD/VHS release.

Trailers

 * The teaser trailer was released on February 17, 2003, and was later attached to theatrical screenings of Agent Cody Banks, Piglet's Big Movie, The Italian Job, X2, Daddy Daycare, The Matrix: Relaoded, and Finding Nemo.
 * The theatrical trailer was released on June 14, 2003, and was attached to 2 Fast 2 Furious, Rugrats: Go Wild, Hulk, That 70's Show: The Adventures of Zathura, Drago and Friends: Abra Catastrophe, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Sea, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, and Pirates of the Carribean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
 * The second theatrical trailer was released on November 29, 2003 and was attached into Brother Bear, Elf, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, The Cat in the Hat, The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Teacher's Pet, Shrek 2.

Box office
The Pink Panther: Back in Action had grossed $56.3 million in North America and $49.7 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $106.5 million, against a budget of $70 million.

In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside Cabaret, Sphere, The Wedding Singer, and 50 First Dates. It grossed a combined total of $21,311,374 in its opening weekend at 3,603 theaters, finishing third at the box office, behind Lord of the Rings: Return of the King and Looney Tunes: Back in Action.

Fox was hoping to start a revitalized franchise of The Pink Panther media and products with the success of Back in Action. New animated theatrical shorts and a Eagle Chasers TV series were commissioned to tie in with Back in Action. However, due to the film being unable to recoup its $70 million budget, the The Pink Panther franchise remained primarily on television for nearly 17 years. GoAnimate would not produce another theatrical The Pink Panther film until Rink Jam: A New Champion, which was released in June 2022 and became a huge box office hit.

Critical response
Critical response aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gave the film an approval rating of 54% based on 131 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads: "The plot is a frantic, hyperactive jumble and the gags are relatively uninspired compared to the classic The Pink Panther cartoons." Metacritic gives it 51/100, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B-" on an A+ to F scale.

Main
To read this film's transcript, go here.

Trailers
To read the trailer transcripts, go here.