Pink Z-Z-Z (1978)

Too much of everything

good back-story, and good acting

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

The Pink Panther tries to get to sleep, but falls short due to a wailing cat outside. After giving it food, it wasn't enough for the pesky feline as it sneaks into the Pink Panther's house, sleeps on his bed and sneaks food from the refrigerator. As all pests in this panther cartoons, they're extremely annoying and you wish they will get a taste of their own medicine.It's an OK cartoon and it reminds you of "In the Pink of the Night," where the Pink Panther tackles with a cuckoo clock. I think the cat at least partially got one he deserved at the end.Grade B-

Most of the Pink Panther cartoons are enjoyable, and a good number of the early ones are classics or at least near that. Of the uneven 1978 batch of Pink Panther cartoons, Pink Z-Z-Z is not one of the best ones like Sprinkle Me Pink, Pink Arcade and Pinktails for Two but also not one of the worst like Pinkologist, Cat and the Pinkstalk and Yankee Doodle Pink. Nor is it among the best or worst of the entire Pink Panther series, if anything it's around low middle.Pink Z-Z-Z's concept is a good one, not exactly original for Pink Panther but it is very difficult to not relate to Pinky's troubles with sleeping and his increasing irritation with the cat. Pinky is amusing and cool as always, and as likable a character he always is not for some time has it been easier sympathising with him. Pink Z-Z-Z does a great job in making the cat as annoying as possible(along with Pinky's situation the cat is the reason why relating to Pinky was so easy here), it really worked within the cartoon as it was clearly the intent from the word go and it made the interplay between the characters convincing. There are funnier Pink Panther cartoons, but some the gags are amusing at least while the theme tune is as ever a timeless classic.As with a lot of the later Pink Panther cartoons however, the animation is not that brilliant. The colours are fine, they are very bright and colourful, and Pinky as ever is well drawn, but everything else especially the backgrounds looked like they were drawn in a hurry, it all looks rough rather than smooth and sparse rather than detailed. Outside of the theme tune the music did not impress this time round, the scores for the post-1975 Pink Panther cartoons were hit-and-miss in terms of quality, but the music here is a bit too pedestrian and repetitive and the cartoon sometimes especially at the start felt over-scored. Some of the cartoon is amusing, but again this is in spurts rather than consistently, the execution of the story just felt too rushed(a lot of the pacing was breakneck-speed), over-stuffed and repetitively routine to be funnier. The cartoon comes to a somewhat abrupt end as well.Overall, watchable Pink Panther cartoon but there's far better in the series. 5/10 Bethany Cox