Customer Reviews

Herbie - Fully Loaded

5 star:		(44)
4 star:		(36)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

One of the first movies I saw when I first came to the US was Herbie Goes To Monte Carlo, at a drive-in when we were living in Livermore, CA. Since then, there has been a connection between the family, more through my brother, with that gutsy VW Bug with a mind and heart of its own, that blazed a trail through four movies. In fact, racing excerpts from those movies are shown in the opening sequences of Herbie-Fully Loaded, which has the famed racing Bug resurrected for the current generation.

Fully Loaded finds the famed Bug ready to be turned to scrap metal at Crazy Dave's scrapyard. He is rescued by Maggie Peyton (Lindsay Lohan), whose family has racing in their blood, as her grandfather's a racing legend. Her father is as well, and is trying to groom his son Ray Jr. to succeed him, but a series of crashes at the race track as well as a dearth of sponsors, dwindling by the minute, makes that impossible. Maggie though, had her own racing days in high school, and finds her true calling other than going to New York behind the racing scenes.

She gains an enemy in macho NASCAR champion Trip Murphy, played by Matt Dillon, when the ever-sensitive Herbie takes offense to one of Murphy's insults to him and scrapes the star's car with his rearview mirror. This leads to a race where Herbie beats Murphy, to the delight and surprise of the local racing fans.

Maggie's reaction to Herbie, pop-eyes and screams, as the VW shows her what he's made of, is akin to what every kid might have if a car did its own thing. Gradually, she recognizes that Herbie has a soul, as does her school friend Kevin, who runs a garage, and takes a liking to the car. She does learn of Herbie's sensitivity, when the car, hurt at something she says during another race with Trip, deliberately loses. This is nothing new, as in The Love Bug, when Jim Douglas, agrees to give up Herbie for a Lancia, only to find an enraged and betrayed Herbie ramming the Lancia. Herbie fuels Maggie's desire to race again, but her father (Michael Keaton) isn't keen on his daughter suffering injuries or even getting killed on the track, and forbids it.

Unlike the other movies, Herbie's headlights move, lowering down when depressed, as does his front bumper. And yes, he still does squirt oil at anyone mean. The corporate sponsors and video game tie-ins (Trip's new game) make this up to date for this generation. And when Herbie sees one of the new Bugs, a bright yellow one, Maggie says, "Herbie, I think she's too young for you."

As if remembering what Herbie's main passion was, it was a good move to show this as a racing picture per The Love Bug and Herbie Goes To Monte Carlo, and as such, the racing scenes are the best part of the picture, as is a scene when Herbie takes on a monster truck driven by a nasty thug at a car crash derby, set to Van Halen's "Jump." The names of Ray Peyton and Ray Peyton Jr. have syllabic similarities to another racing family-think Al Unser and Al Unser Jr. And having Maggie at the wheel also brings into mind Shirley Muldowney.

It's also great having two 80's film stars, Michael Keaton and Matt Dillon back in prominent roles. And mark this as one of Lindsay Lohan's better films along with the Parent Trap.

I still say The Love Bug's the best movie in the Herbie series, but Fully Loaded takes Herbie back to his roots without too much radical updating, and is better than Herbie Goes Bananas, so as such, it qualifies. Those who grew up on Herbie will definitely enjoy it.

I remember enjoying the original films, and was actually looking forward to seeing this film almost as much as my kids were. My only concern was that I was a little worried that the film was going to focus too much on CGI effects and turn Herbie into a goofy version of that awful 70's cartoon Speed Buggy. Instead, Disney simply updated all of the great things about the original. There was very little use of the CGI effects, and when done, it's done well. I have seen a couple reviews that complained that Breckin Meyer, Michael Keaton, Matt Dillon and the other human stars are relegated to minor roles in the film....so what? I wasn't there to see a Michael Keaton film, I'm in the theater to see Herbie kick some butt on the race track, smack people with doors, trunks, hubcaps, spit oil in the bad guys face etc. and that is what I got. Fully Loaded has all of the magic of the original series. This is one of the best Disney live action films to come out in some time. Long live Herbie!!!!

Herbie is back folks, "Fully Loaded" in this new motion picture staring Lidsay Lohan(Freaky Friday,..etc), Michael Keaton(Batman), and Matt Dillion, along with the ever lovable Herbie!!! Hey, I will admit I was a little surprised that the movie was as good as it was, and I like how they blended the whole Nascar themed racing into the movie, along with some awesome street racing( when The Fast and The Furious meets Disney in a pretty awesome combination!!!

Disney has all the bases covered in this one and make the movie fun for kids, adults, or plainly a troubled teen like me!!! This film will, be enjoyed by all ages and is worth seeing!!! The story starts off, with Maggie Peyton(Lindsay Lohan), a daring fearless chick with attitude, has a secert dream of racing in Nascar!!! She has just graduated from high school and begins her life!!! Her, dad (Michael Keaton) run a race team in Nascar that is barely surviving, and in need of a sponsor, with her older brother at the wheel!!! Maggie's dad has his heart set on keeping the legendary Peyton legacy alive, the Peyton racing dynasty!!!

Maggies' dad (Keaton) takes Maggie to Crazy Dave's Junkyard to pick out a car, if you're asking why, it's because of the shortage of money due to the racing team!!! Maggie has a hard time deciding which car to choose!!! When, Maggie gets behind the wheel of a car and dreams about being a race car driver, Herbie, takes a liking to her and sparks her interest!!! Well from their Herbie is a handfull, like all the other movies I recall!!!

Well, she falls in love with the car and her friend convinces her to get back into street racing!!! She hides her idenity as Max and ends up challenging Trip Murphy(Matt Dillion), the reigning Nascar champion, thanks to good ol' Herbie!!! Now this is what I mean when The Fast and the Furious meets Disney, in this great cinematic moment, when the Herbie a '63 Beatle beats a modified muscle car with the works!!! Trip, who plays the role as the villian, wants revenge from Max( really Maggie), and sets up a race tournment in the middle of the desert, for a huge grand prize!!!

Herbie soars through the ranks, of the tournment as usual!!! Trip approaches Maggie, knowing that she is actually Max and lets her drive his nascar, while he tries to figure out how a '63 beatle runs that fast, and Herbie has a few surprises for him !!! Then trip and Maggie make a side deal with these terms: if Maggie wins she keeps Trip's nascar, if Trip wins he keeps Herbie!!! Towards, the end Maxie quotes "I want that Nascar Herbie", and poor Herbie is hurt and stops trying and Trip wins!!!

In a chain of events she realizes that she wants Herbie and ends up rescuing him from a Destruction Derby, and takes him to her friends car shop and work on him!!! herbie ends up being ok!!! When her brother is qualifing for the race and gets in a crash on the second lap, the first lap though was enough to make the race!!! The teams sponsorship depended on this race, Maggies, brother won't be able to race!!! Maggie's brother suggest that Maggie ride in his place, her Father refusing, remembering the street racing crash from a few years ago!!!

Her brother, helps Maggie anyways and plays the role as crew chief, and they basicalliy fix up Herbie into a nascar, which was cool!!! Her dad finally does come around ,and all of Maggie's dreams finally did coming true, as she wins the raceand teaches, a little lesson to that Trip Murphy!!! Maggie and Herbie work together in this heart felt movie, that will teach you a lfew lessons about life, while watching a cute family movie!!!

This was a great cinametic experience and suggest to anyone!!! True, it is different from the original Herbie movies, and shows how racing as a sports has involved!!! This was pretty good non animated feature relesed by Disney!!!

Before I start-

A brief History of Herbie:

We first saw Herbie, the volkswagon bug with a mind of its own in the car showroom of Peter Thorndyke (David Tomlinson) in "The Love Bug" released in 1968. Herbie, due to be sent away by Thorndyke was discovered by Jim Douglas (Dean Jones) who would race Herbie in several races. "The Love Bug" Special Edition is now available on DVD.
In the sequel "Herbie Rides Again" (1974) we discover that Herbie is no longer racing with Jim Douglas. He is now with a sweet old lady called Mrs Steinmetz (played by veteran actress Helen Hayes) who he helps to protect from a corrupt developer. "Herbie Rides Again" is now available on DVD.
Herbie returns yet again in "Herbie Goes To Monte Carlo" (1977). Reunited with Jim Douglas from "The Love Bug", Herbie's tasks this time include stopping some diamond thieves and winning the big Monte Carlo race. "Herbie Goes To Monte Carlo" is now available on DVD.
The fourth classic movie "Herbie Goes Bananas"(1980) has Herbie becoming involved in various escapades in Mexico, on his way to a big race. It's a tough adventure for Herbie who gets very damaged before being cleaned up at the end. The big race does not happen in the movie, and it doesn't feature Jim Douglas either. "Herbie Goes Bananas" is now available on DVD.
Then in 1982, there was the short-lived 5 episode television series "Herbie, The Love Bug". This featured Herbie on various adventures with his original owner Jim Douglas. The series hasn't been released on DVD as yet.
Lastly there was the 1997 tv movie based on the original Herbie film, also called "The Love Bug". In it Herbie is passed onto a new owner by the name of Hank Cooper (Bruce Campbell). Together they must race against a dastardly racer and his evil car (named Horace) which has been built using the essence of Herbie. In this version of "The Love Bug", Herbie is virtually destroyed by Horace. Herbie even has a funeral and is thought of as gone forever, until Jim Douglas (Dean Jones) makes a surprise appearance. Jim Douglas and Herbie's original creator help to rebuild Herbie for another (grudge) race. And that was the last time we saw Herbie. "The Love Bug (1997) was previously available on VHS video.

Now we have "Herbie Fully Loaded", the fifth big screen movie, and the fun is back and he can do more stunts than ever. This movie follows the pretty regular formula of car wins race, car loses race, car wins race again, car falls in love with another car- and you know what, that formula still works for Herbie- if you're a fan. If you're a newcomer to Herbie, you may find the movie underwhelming.

Lindsay Lohan does a fine job in her role of our young female racer who races Herbie at Nascar. Michael Keaton does a fine job too as the father, as does Matt Dillon as the villain. There are also nice little special effects that enhance Herbie's skill, but nothing too ridiculous. These kind of special effects were only briefly used in the 1997 tv movie "The Love Bug", so to most people they'll seem pretty new here. There's also been rumor in the press that Lindsay Lohan herself has been digitally altered, but it was kind of hard to tell. I guess you'll have to watch "Mean Girls" to do a comparison. And as usual Herbie does get beaten up a little bit- at a monster rally- just enough reason for us to see the all-new Nascar Herbie. And as a sidenote, it was nice to see the Walt Disney Pictures logo return with the blue background and the castle- I'm glad it's back.

In conclusion, Herbie Fully Loaded is a good movie, but it could have been better. Still, it's funny, I liked it, and it's a worthy addition to the Herbie series.

Herbie Fully Loaded is one of those movies that is just fun to watch. Even though I did not consider myself a Herbie fan before seeing this movie, I definitely was a fan after leaving the theater.

Herbie Fully Loaded is a nostalgic, wonderfully cheesy trip down memory lane. The director Angela Robinson unabashedly embraced this project that could easily have been overdone. Robinson's shameless use of montages (there are at least four) and her inclusion of the same slapstick gags that seem to have sprung right out of the original movie make Herbie Fully Loaded a delight to watch.

If you give this movie a chance it is guaranteed to work its way into your heart and probably into your video collection.

Though corny and often silly, 'Herbie: Fully Loaded' is not a bad film as you may think. I find the film fairly amusing, if not original, and surely Disney knows this is a family-oriented film, made for entertainment.

So 'Herbie: Fully Loaded' is a sequel to (not a remake of) the previous 'Love Bug' films, and again the 'live' Volkswagen, now forgotten by people and left in the junkyard, is 'saved' by Lindsay Lohan's character Maggine Peyton, a wannabe NASCAR driver. Soon Maggie finds out the incredible ability of this supercar called 'Herbie,' most of which are slapstick kind of things like spitting out oil over the face of the arrogant celebrity racer (and baddie) played by Matt Dillon.

The story is that silly and predictable, but somehow it works as long as the film keeps showing Lindsay Lohan on screen. Lohan's cute and nice girl image is intact here, and Walt Disney Pictures is well aware that their newer 'Love Bug' film needs her charms as the heroine we can relate to. She succeeds, or shines if I may say, but of course, some might dislike the film exactly because she is there. But anyway those Lohan haters would not see this film.

Beside Matt Dillon, the film features supporting actors including Michael Keaton, Justin Long, Breckin Meyer, Jill Ritchie, and Cheryl Hines. Sadly, however, none of them are not required to do much, except very good Justin Long as shy and good-natured mechanic, and the role of Breckin Meyer as Maggie's brother is too small for him.

The car race scenes including the rousing finale are clearly helped by ILM's special effects, and the car often drives in the most ridiculous way (at times it slides as if skateboarding, and can move its doors like ... er ... a bug), but the film surely knows what it is doing. It's a movie that you should see in summer season, silly but enjoyable.

My husband and I took our kids to see this movie, and we all thought it was great! It's probably geared more towards kids and families, but with most movies coming out these days with so much violence and sex, I think it's great to see something you can enjoy with your children. There are plenty of movies out there for those who want more adult content, so why not have some movies for families? This one was wonderful, and I thought it was fabulous to watch a movie with my kids where I didn't have to worry about something too adult for their eyes.

This movie had me smiling all the way through. It's such a nice, likable little fantasy. Herbie, as everyone knows, is a magic car that somehow lives. Living cars (from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to Knight Rider) are a classic fantasy premise. Add an attractive star like Lindsay Lohan to that already good idea and you're halfway to creating a really fun movie.
The other half of the deal is, most of us like a good underdog story, which is what this is. Everyone underestimates Herbie of course, and Maggie (Lindsay Lohan) can't even rely on her dad's support when she sets her mind on racing. (But she wins him over along with her friends, who know about her "racer X" disguise when she races.) And of course, there's a little romance with her mechanic friend and lots of funny gags with the car doing impossible things. And Matt Dillon is really funny as the egotistical big-shot out to beat Herbie no matter what. My favorite part is seeing him screaming, "That car is mocking me! Look! It's doing it now!" and it is!...while everyone else is looking the other way. LOL It's just a really enjoyable movie experience all around.

This 2005 Herbie sequel is one of the most entertaining in the ongoing Herbie series. Lindsay Lohan stars as the young racer who picks a ready-to-be-compacted Herbie out of the junkyard. Brecklin Meyer plays her mechanic sidekick and Michael Keaton is her father, who never wants her to race. Matt Dillon is simply great as the villainous pro-racer Trip Murphy.

The scene where Herbie exuberantly tries to get Lohan's attention when she's deciding which car to buy out of the junkyard is hilarious! Also the first race with the arrogant Trip Murphy on the streets is thrilling.

The Herbie series is as follows:

The Love Bug (1968)
Herbie Rides Again (1974)
Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1977)
Herbie Goes Bananas (1980)
Herbie, the Love Bug (TV Series) (1982)
The Love Bug (1997)
Herbie Fully Loaded (2005)

You'll note this list includes the 1997 TV film "The Love Bug," featuring Bruce Campbell. Don't miss out on this flick because it introduces the DARK Herbie, "Horace" (lol!).

As you can plainly see, the long-running Herbie series is perhaps second only to the renown James Bond series.

It just so happens that the very same day that I saw "Herbie Fully Loaded" I also viewed "Christine" (1983), which is a great film by the way. Anyway, I couldn't help but wonder which car would win if Herbie and Christine duked it out. I'd have to go with Herbie. How about you? If you think Herbie would win pick "Helpful" below.

If you can watch a movie with the eyes of a child and enjoy seeing the underdog win you might like Herbie Fully Loaded.
Herbie is definely the star of the movie, not Lindsey Lohan. Besides, Matt Dillon is my choice of eye candy!

I don't have a lot to say about this movie. If you liked The Love Bug when you were a kid, you'll like this too. It's just a cute movie to watch if it's a lazy day.