Blake Edwards was not interested in doing a "tribute" to the late Peter Sellers with this movie. What he wanted to do was find a way to milk more money out of the property by first setting us up with a "Clouseau disappears" movie to squeeze the last nickel out of Sellers posthumously and then hope audiences would come back for the dreadful follow-up with Ted Wass and he could then get some more movies out of it. For the first half, we have half a plot by using old Sellers outtakes and then when he runs out it turns into a "tribute" by spotlighting old clips. What I remember so vividly when I saw this movie in the theaters was how after the outtakes ended, absolutely no one in the theater laughed for the last half of the movie.
If Edwards wanted to do a proper "tribute" he would have taken these Sellers outtakes (which are funny) and put them back into longer directors cut versions of the Panther films they were originally intended for (one outtake finally clears up why Clouseau keeps referring to Colin Blakely as "Sergeant Yard" in "Pink Panther Strikes Again"). The end result would have pleased everyone as a proper tribute to Sellers' genius and when Edwards used to know how to make a funny movie. Unfortunately Edwards wasn't bright enough to think of a sensible idea like that.
If Edwards wanted to do a proper "tribute" he would have taken these Sellers outtakes (which are funny) and put them back into longer directors cut versions of the Panther films they were originally intended for (one outtake finally clears up why Clouseau keeps referring to Colin Blakely as "Sergeant Yard" in "Pink Panther Strikes Again"). The end result would have pleased everyone as a proper tribute to Sellers' genius and when Edwards used to know how to make a funny movie. Unfortunately Edwards wasn't bright enough to think of a sensible idea like that.