The Pink Panther Cartoon Collection Vol. 2: 1966-1968 (1966)

4 Stars (out of 4)

Pink Flicks

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Kino Lorber has released their second excellent collection of Pink Panther cartoons, twenty on one Blu-ray. (Please see my review of The Pink Panther Cartoon Collection Volume 1: 1964-1966 for more details about this series.)

This set includes Pink-a-Boo, Genie with the Light Pink Fur, Super Pink, Rock A Bye Pinky, Pinknic, Pink Panic, Pink Posies, Pink of the Litter, In the Pink, Jet Pink, Pink Paradise, Pinto Pink, Congratulations It's Pink, Prefabricated Pink, The Hand Is Pinker Than the Eye, Pink Outs, Sky Blue Pink, Pinkadilly Circus, Psychedelic Pink, and Come On In! The Water's Pink.

Pink of the Litter is a notable short, with Pink arrested and ordered to clean up the trash in a particularly messy town, and then coming up with ever more elaborate ways to get rid of it. The ending on this one is particularly clever. Pink Panic is a wonderful, very funny haunted house picture, also with an amazing ending. Pink Outs (which seems to be the only short stuck with a laugh track) is an unusual collection of disconnected, plotless sketches; the disc also includes the TV version of this, which was disassembled to use as bumpers between cartoons and ads (narration was also added).

Psychedelic Pink is another amazing one, as strange as it sounds, and The Hand Is Pinker Than the Eye, about a stay in a magician's house, features some delightful visual tricks. Pink-A-Boo is a fan favorite, featuring Pink's battle with a hungry mouse, both of them snowed in during wintertime with no food in the house.

Extras include ten commentary tracks by various writers, animators, and experts, and two short "from page to screen" featurettes, showing early storyboards. The sound and picture quality are top-notch. I look forward to many more of these collections!