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A ministry of the ChildCare Action Project: Christian Analysis of American Culture (CAP Ministry) A 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Christian Ministry. www.capalert.com/ Entertainment Media Analysis Report A service to His little ones through you in His name by His Word MAR29017  (2009), PG [Strong 13-PG*] (1hr 27min) With Comparative to Pink Panther (2006) The #1 Christian entertainment media analysis service on the Internet. We give you OBJECTIVE tools NO ONE ELSE CAN to help YOU make an informed decision for yourself whether a film is fit for your family. Over 1200 analyses for parents, grandparents, pastors, youth leaders and more. |
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(While the Scriptural references are certainly not subjective, my commentary may be and sometimes is somewhat subjective.)
 Cast/Crew Details Courtesy Internet Movie Database Production (US): Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Columbia Pictures, Robert Simonds Productions Distribution (US): Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Sony Pictures Releasing, MGM Home Entertainment Director(s): Harald Zwart Producer(s): Shawn Levy, Ira Shuman, Robert Simonds Screenplay: Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber, Steve Martin Story:, Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber Characters: Maurice Richlin, Blake Edwards Cinematography/Camera: Denis Crossan Music: Christophe Beck Film Editing: Julia Wong Casting: Ilene Starger Production Design: Rusty Smith Art Direction: Matthieu Beutter, Rick Butler Viewed on Fox Home Entertainment DVD  This analysis is sponsored by the generosity of C&EZ and E&HP. The final score of 60 earned by Pink Panther 2 places the film content six points morally worse than the lite 13-PG Pink Panther (2006) which earned a final score of 66. The final score of 60 earned by Pink Panther 2 also makes the overall magnitude of the content of the PG-rated film morally equivalent to the typical content of a strong PG-13 film in the comparative baseline database of films. Thus the "Strong 13-PG." For those of you who recently joined the CAP services, "13-PG" means a PG-rated film which earns a final CAP score in the range of scores earned by PG-13 movies (55 to 67 out of 100) in the comparative baseline database. For more information on CAP equivalency nomenclature see the legend at the bottom of the NOW PLAYING and COMING SOON page. The most serious losses of points in the film were due to a saturation of it with slapstick "comedy" violence and with sexual innuendo and inferences plus one instance of sexual vulgarity. The film content found by the Wanton Violence/Crime (W) and Sexual Immorality (S) investigation areas each earned area scores equivalent to the same area scoring as many R-rated films (54 and below out of 100), not because of the severity of any individual instances of slaps on the face of morality and decency but in the sheer numbers of them (see our CAP Rule of 1000 for more information). Following is a scoring data distribution comparative of the two versions of the film. It should help you get a visual "feel" for the similarities as well as the differences in morality content of the two films.  "Sexual vulgarity." That is a term I used above to describe some of the content of this film the MPAA says, by slapping a PG on it, is fit for your adolescents. Well, that is not their decision to make. That is your decision to make. The content that I [subjectively] term as vulgar was when a character named Mrs. Berenger (Lilly Tomlin) instructed Inspector Clouseau (Steve Martin) on political and social correctness when dealing with and when speaking to and about women while in such a highly visible public service position. Tomlin spoke highly descriptively and even seductively of female anatomy and the sexual-oriented features and functions of it such as "nooks and crannies" as she taught Clouseau the "don'ts" of proper etiquette and 'political correctness' regarding women. As a result, Clouseau was portrayed as sexually aroused. Not that I agree such descriptives should be in any film, it most certainly should not be in a PG film. Other sexually-tainted references and innuendo such as naming a cat "Caligula" (an intensely sexually perverted Roman Caesar) did not help the Sexual Immorality score. Granted, most of the PG age stratum kids do not know of Caligula but adults do when the children mimic what they've heard. After a ten-year hiatus the world's greatest thief, The Tornado is back in action stealing priceless artifacts: the Shroud of Turin; the Magna Carta; the Imperial Sword; the Pope's ring ... including the Pink Panther diamond. Clouseau's boss, Chief Inspector Dreyfus (John Cleese), was ordered to put Clouseau in charge of a specially formed elite team of expert detectives, The Dream Team because Clouseau was felt to be the world's top detective since he cracked the stolen Pink Panther diamond case ten years ago. For those years, Inspector Clouseau has been the target of Dreyfus' professional attention who expressed his feelings about Clouseau by delegating Clouseau to the highly sensitive mission of interest to national security: parking ticket detail. Clouseau wears his Medal of Honor (which Dreyfus wanted and tried for in the first Pink Panther) hanging from his neck every day and every day reminds Dreyfus that he won the medal: that Dreyfus did not. Nevertheless, Dreyfus must assign Clouseau to head the Dream Team ... another slap in Dreyfus' professional face. That a dum-dum like Clouseau should get the elite job Dreyfus felt he should get was a thorn in Dreyfus' side. Serendipitously and much to the chagrin of Dreyfus, Clouseau makes a key observation as a street meter cop that later again places Clouseau in the spotlight of honor. Clouseau must now report to Kyoto, Japan to meet with the rest of the Dream team -- and leave Nicole Durant, his heart throb and professional associate for years. Because of being reassigned out of town, Nicole pines at the loss of her beau who will be gone for an undetermined length of time. Together as they share remorse at the impending parting they remember a night three months earlier at the La Plata de Nada (the plate of nothing) restaurant which Clouseau burned down by his slapstick bumbling. "It was a night to remember that we must forget." As they try to share a "professional goodbye hug" Gendarme Gilbert Ponton (Jean Reno), Clouseau's partner sticks his head in the office and unintentionally forces the pair to fake their co-attraction. On his way to the Charles de Gaulle airport with Ponton, Clouseau brags that the Pink Panther diamond, protection of which was the Chief Inspector's job, would be vulnerable if Clouseau left France. Sure enough, as Clouseau steps over the "You are now leaving France" border at the airport, a public announcement is made that the Pink Panther has been stolen from its 6-month exposition at the le Grand Palais exhibition hall, supposedly the safest place in the world for the diamond. Clouseau himself checked out the security before leaving for the airport. The Dream Team which was supposed to begin its investigations from Kyoto, Japan has now been diverted to Paris. Now we meet the Dream Team: the Italian Vicenzo Rocarra Squarcialupi Brancaleone (Andy Garcia), Japanese Kenji Mazuto (Yuki Matsuzaki) and British Randall Pepperidge (Alfred Molina - Dr. Otto Octavius in Spider-Man 2). Together the Dream Team participate in a testosterone contest as they begin to make the crime scene analysis a professional spitting contest until ... Almost prophetically, Sonja Solandres (Aishwarya Rai) appears as a last minute addition to the team. Then ... The story continues through a number of bumbling escapades by Clouseau much the same as found in the first Pink Panther. But it is not my intent to spoil a movie for you should you wish to watch it in spite of its content our analysis reveals. My "job" is to tell you about the content so you might be in a better position to make an informed moral decision whether a film is fit and for what age stratum it is fit (if any). We tell you what is there ... you decide. The following individual investigation area discussions will provide a nutshell accounting of the content of this film. As always, the best source of detailed content is the listing in the Findings/Scoring section of this report -- the heart of the CAP Analysis Model. Wanton Violence/Crime (W) - Zero out of 100 This film is rife with slapstick violence much the same caliber as that in Road Runner/Coyote(tm) cartoons. In fact, the intro animated sequence has much of the slapstick violence in it. Note that although animation seems to lessen the influence of violence God speaks to, it still desensitizes the viewer, specially the young, to both the gravity of the consequences of such behavior and to the wrongness of it. In addition to the slapstick violence, gunfire to kill was found a number of times. A restaurant is incinerated twice. A hostage is taken at gunpoint and, although only the body is seen, there is a gunfire death. Arson is used to attempt escape. [Prov. 16:29] Impudence/Hate (I) - 89 out of 100 There is only one use of American language profanity noted in the entire 87 minutes of this film. Once an Italian character muttered something in Italian that sounded dark. Whether it be profanity it was obviously hateful. Lies did not help the scoring in this investigation area. Note that during the previews on the DVD prior to the movie, the preview for Post Grad presented two uses of profanity. But only the content of an actual movie are included in the CAP analysis of it. So these uses of preview profanity were not incorporated into the scoring distribution. Sexual Immorality (S) - 31 out of 100 Most of the sexually oriented content was of the "lesser" kind such as painting nudity and statue nudity plus a number of innuendoes, inappropriate touching and transvestism. The reason for the loss of most of the starting 100 points in this investigation area was not so much due to the severity of individual assaults on sexual wholesomeness but due to the sheer number of examples of "lesser" assaults on morality and decency. See CAP Rule of 1000 for more information on this technique of loading or weighting of the content to achieve the effect of a more severe rating. The most severe of concerns of sexually immoral content was the portrayal of sexual arousal by Martin after hearing Tomlin speak a long dialogue of clearly sexual matters. Note also that the preview for Post Grad included sexually immoral behaviors of a young woman and her apparent boyfriend. She and he sitting facing each other, she in a dress with her feet on his lap then her feet lifted to expose all that under her dress with him obviously noticing it. One day not that long ago girls, even in film, wouldn't think of such gamming and would keep their legs down and knees together while wearing a dress or even in slacks, shorts or a bathing suit. Even when the actress was required to lie down or play dead she would typically draw one knee over the other even if slightly as if to say "stay out!" or "don't look!" Not 'ny more. I call this digression of modesty a barometer of morality, one of many which are slowly but surely showing loss in pressure: loss in moral pressure to honor God-planted inhibitions against such posture which some would call "invitation" and "advertising." [Col 3:5, Rev. 2:20, Prov. 30:20] This PG with sexual talk and posing arousing a man, which just a few years ago was reserved for porn, is yet another barometer of low moral pressure of the times. Question: What happens when a low pressure rolls in? Answer: Storms. Some could be severe and destructive just like Hurricane Katrina and the Senate-approved "Pedophile Protection Act" before Congress right now (July 18, 2009) -- the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009, H.R. 1913, attached to a defense spending bill at that. As with the use of profanity in the preview, the sexually immoral behavior in the preview was not incorporated into the scoring distribution for the movie. But I thought you might want to know about them. Drugs/Alcohol (D) - 69 out of 100 There is a strong content of alcoholic beverages and drinking of them in this film for the PG crowd. Though all the drinking was "social" or "dinner" drinking, the influence of alcohol in and as entertainment has been revealed first by God's Word then augmented by the American College of Physicians. A 2002 study by the American College of Physicians (ACP) revealed that adolescent exposure to drinking in and as entertainment undeniably leads to abuse of alcohol among underage viewers. The finding entitled Relation Between Parental Restrictions on Movies and Adolescent Use of Tobacco and Alcohol reports that of 4544 youths from grades 5 through 8 of fifteen Vermont and New Hampshire middle schools (90% of the youths were under fourteen years old) only 16% were completely restricted from viewing R-rated movies. Within the ACP study population, the prevalence of having tried alcohol without parental knowledge was The researchers selected R-rated movies because they assumed R-rated movies typically present more drinking than movies of other classifications. This assumption is no longer true. The researchers were not aware of the matter of R-13 proven by this ministry in 2000 with which Harvard University researchers agreed four years later. The bottom line? The focus is that the influence of adolescent exposure to drinking (and smoking) in and as entertainment is undeniable regardless of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) classification. [Eph. 5:18] Rather revealing of the influences of the entertainment industry wouldn't you say? And emboldening children to sin with drink in and as entertainment screams of violating Luke 17:2. Offense to God (O) - 73 out of 100 God's name in abused six times in this 87-minute film but each was without the four letter expletive. [Deut. 5:11] That and the Chief Inspector Dreyfus thanking God for Clouseau's misfortune were the only content issues applicable to this investigation area. Murder/Suicide (M) - 100 out of 100 No murders were seen in the film though a dead body implied off-screen murder. The CAP Analysis Model will not permit application of any one instance of assault on morality and decency in more than one investigation area. The view of the dead body could be incorporated into the Wanton Violence/Crime investigation area or this Murder/Suicide investigation area, but not both. Nor will the model permit point loss incorporation more than once in any investigation area. That is one example of the objectivity of the CAP Analysis Model. SCRIPTURAL APPLICATION(S) If needed to focus or fortify, applicable text is underlined or bracketed [ ] or bold. If you wish to have full context available, the Blue Letter Bible is a convenient source. If you use the Blue Letter Bible, a new window will open. Close it to return here or use "Window" in your browser's menu bar to alternate between the CAP page and the Blue Letter Bible page. CHAPTER/VERSE ***Selected Scriptures of Armour against the influence of the entertainment industry*** As always, it is best to refer to the Findings/Scoring section -- the heart of the CAP analysis model -- for the most complete assessment possible of this movie. |
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 Wanton Violence/Crime (W) - Zero out of 100 Impudence/Hate (I) - 89 out of 100 Sexual Immorality (S) - 31 out of 100 Drugs/Alcohol (D) - 69 out of 100 Offense to God (O) - SCO73RE out of 100 Murder/Suicide (M) - 100 out of 100 |
| There are some in the entertainment industry who maintain that 1) violent programming is harmless because no studies exist that prove a connection between violent entertainment and aggressive behavior in children, and 2) young people know that television, movies, and video games are simply fantasy. Unfortunately, they are wrong on both accounts." And "Viewing violence may lead to real life violence." I applaud these associations for fortifying 1 Cor. 15:33. Read the rest of the story. From our years of study, I contend that other aberrant behaviors, attitudes, and expressions can be inserted in place of "violence" in that statement. Our Director - Child Psychology Support, a licensed psychologist and certified school psychologist concurs. For example, "Viewing arrogance against fair authority may lead to your kids defying you in real life." Or "Viewing sex may lead to sex in real life." Likewise and especially with impudence, hate and foul language. I further contend that any positive behavior can be inserted in place of "violence" with the same chance or likelihood of being a behavior template for the observer; of being incorporated into the behavior mechanics and/or coping skills of the observer. In choosing your entertainment, please consider carefully the "rest of the story" and our findings. |
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