Flanderization/Film

Examples of Flanderization in Film include:

Happened to Peter Sellers' Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther series. His French accent was originally straightforward, though A Shot in the Dark introduced odd accent-based pronunciation quirks ("beump" for bump, for example). When he revived the character in the mid-1970s, the accent was significantly thicker and the mispronunciations were more frequent ("minkey", "rheum", "leu"), etc. Other Shot in the Dark elements became Running Gags too: he donned more bizarre disguises with each film, and Cato's attacks grew increasingly destructive, as did the slapstick in general for the whole run of films. However, this went over like gangbusters with audiences and it didn't violate Clouseau's basic character, making it one of the less destructive examples of Flanderization on this list.
Probably the best-remembered characteristic of Chinese detective Charlie Chan is his use of pithy "Oriental" aphorisms—a trait which comes directly from the Warner Oland film adaptations, and which were the only aspect of those adaptations that Chan's original author Earl Derr Biggers himself heartily disliked.
Eddie Wilson in Eddie and the Cruisers started out as a serious musician who wouldn't sell out. By the end of the sequel, his only emotional response was to run away from anything that might be critical of his music.
Agent Tom Manning from the Hellboy series. In the first film, he's a competent bureaucrat, though a bad field leader; he and Hellboy butt heads but eventually come to respect each other. In the second, he's comically incompetent, and the only way he can keep Hellboy in line is by bribing him with cigars.
The Lethal Weapon series gives us Dr. Stephanie Woods, who, in the first film was a competent psychologist with legitimate concerns about Riggs' stability. By the third film, she was an inept, touchy-feely shrink who served as little more than comic relief.
Yoda's diction in the original Star Wars trilogy for the most part simply swapped nouns and verbs in certain situations in a manner similar to some Earth languages. This was exaggerated in pop culture leading the writers of the prequels to make up lines such as "Not if anything to say about it, I have!".
James Bond in the original novels was pretty much a working stiff assassin who had some taste in luxury items (and welcomed the opportunity to treat himself while on missions), and who had a varying amount of knowledge of non-assassin related subjects. The movies definitely played up these aspects from the beginning, presenting him as a Cultured Badass, but as the movies got campier, this was exaggerated to the point that Bond became and over-the-top Quintessential British Gentleman and basically knew everything about everything.
- The series itself became notably Flanderised from about Goldfinger onwards. At first the gadgets introduced were those a spy might conceivably carry on his mission and were technologicaly possible for the era. Puns were either occasional comments from Bond to defuse the tension of killing someone ("He got the point") or part of a clever attempt to Get Crap Past the Radar (Pussy Galore). By Die Another Day, nearly every other line from every character was a pun or double entendre, we had characters such as an assassin called Mr Kil and gadgets such as an invisible car. Fortunately, Casino Royale rescued the franchise.
In Freddy vs. Jason, Jason Voorhees is taller, slower and more stupid than ever, possibly in order to more sharply contrast with Freddy.
In The Hangover Part II, Alan's Adult Child traits are driven Up to Eleven.
In the first Rush Hour movie, Chris Tucker's character (whose Butt Monkey status stems from his Cowboy Cop tendencies alienating everyone around him) is actually a fairly competent detective, but simply not as combat effective as Jackie Chan's character. In the sequels, his character's competence is completely jettisoned, he becomes a classic Small Name, Big Ego type, and much Uncle Tomfoolery ensues.
John Rambo from the Rambo series killed precisely one guy in the first film (it was even unintentionally and by accident). From Rambo First Blood Part II onward, Rambo was a Badass who made lots of bodies out of anyone in his way. Plus, the first film's kill is accidental and arguably Karmic Death as well, since Galt, the guy who was killed, was going out of his way to antagonize Rambo.
- This becomes even more so when you think that Rambo killed Galt by throwing a rock at a helicopter, making the pilot swerve and so causing Galt to fall out the door. There's no way Rambo could possibly have expected such a thing to happen; it's a pure desperation move on his part. So even the one person he kills is just a dumb accident.
- There's also that in the first movie Rambo is a veteran struggling with PTSD who just wants to be left alone to make his way in the peacetime United States, while in the next two movies Rambo is effectively a private military contractor who has chosen to deploy to outright war zones. Yeah, no kidding he's going to be killing more people.

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