Pink Panther's new Clouseau

As Inspector Clouseau might have put it: Ere we ave ze premiere of ze nouveau version of Ze Pink Panther. Ze word is it is going to burm. Zey will be praying, 'owever, zat it is not a flurp.

Last night saw the world premiere of The Pink Panther, a prequel to the 1960s original, starring Steve Martin in the role of the bumbling French detective made famous by Peter Sellers.

The American comedy veteran posed for pictures at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York with co-star Beyoncé Knowles, the Destiny's Child star who has previously appeared on the big screen in Austin Powers: Goldmember. Also at the premiere was British star Emily Mortimer, who also has a major part and last appeared in Woody Allen's Match Point.

The film has attracted some opprobrium from Pink Panther aficionados for daring to revisit a role that achieved legendary cinematic status, thanks to Sellers's extraordinary performance - not least his French accent.

Martin has chosen a near impossible act to follow, as he did previously with a much derided movie version of Sgt Bilko. The omens are mixed.

The Pink Panther, according to Variety magazine, consists of "arid stretches interrupted by moments of irresistible silliness". The result is "neither the disaster one might have suspected nor a fully realised madcap farce," says the magazine's reviewer.

"At its best this new Pink Panther is a hit and largely miss exercise - a glass about three-quarters empty or onequarter full, depending on one's eagerness to succumb."