ma-cortes
Amusing and entertaining first TV installment with the ¨Wolkswagen Love Bug¨ racing the tracks . Love Bug's entry in which Herbie is racing in competitions , it is full of pranks and car stunts that are great fun to see . Agreeable television's love bug Wolkswagen plenty of action , slapdash , laughs and entertainment . This hilarious Herbie story concerns about The Love Bug falls 'hood-over-wheels' for a classy chassis! . It deals with Herbie, the magical Volkswagen Beetle, being passed on to a new owner , a down-on-his-luck mechanic and race car pilot named Hank Cooper (Bruce Campbell) . Together, they must battle a dastardly racer named Simon Moore (John Hanna) and his devil-car "Horace", a nasty Herbie . Later on , evil Moore wants Herbie back, but Hank refuses and Simon wishes to compete against Cooper in the races, then he sabotaged Herbie before a car race so , he can vanquish . As the backdrop in the race scenes results to be spectacular as well as funny . Then, a big race was coming up and Herbie , the Volkswagen Beetle with a mind of its own undergoes a dangerous car race . Fortunately, the couple of pilots have a sleeve in the form of Herbie , the fantastic car , as they take the magical Wolkswagen Bug with a mind of its own as both of them compete in the notorious race and attempt to beat . So the two rogue pilots (John Hanna , Dana Gould) resort to all manner of cheats , legal or otherwise, to get it and are now attempting to get them back . Aboard their many crazy car, dastardly Simon and his hoodlum devise nefarious plans to stop the Love Bug . There is one obstacle however : Herbie . Miraculous Herbie take them for a ride and stumbles into evil hoodlums who pursue through roads and race tracks . Herbie with the number 53 intervenes in the biggest car race , a challenge among top competitors and quickly slipping in the ranking.This delightful car comedy displays great loads of amusement , fantastic race cars , slapstick , fun , giggles , chases are great fun to watch and being pretty entertaining . As always, Herbie the love bug , is helping the young couple -Bruce Campbell ,Alexandra Wentworth- find romance but encountering all sorts of hilarious problems along the way . It's an enjoyable movie for kids and for those who enjoy cars racing round and round and bounds and leaps carried out by Herbie . Herbie The Love Bug was a 1963 Volkswagen Beetle deluxe ragtop sedan painted in Volkswagen L87 pearl White . Under normal circumstances, the interior would be a matching white. However, Herbie's interior was painted a special non-reflective grey color so the camera and studio lights would not reflect . The actors seem to enjoy immensely ,such as Bruce Campbell , Clarence Williams II , Kevin J. O'Connor and the ordinary Dean Jones play of sympathetic manner ; of course , there appears the mean-spirited villains performed by John Hanna , Dana Gould , both of whom are top notch . The latter roles bear remarkable resemblance to ¨Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines¨ . Colorful cinematography though a perfect remastering is necessary and jolly soundtrack by Shirley Walker including a lively leitmotif . However , being the only Herbie movie without the George Bruns original and classic theme .This is a delightful film , a particular remake to original entry titled ¨The love bug¨(1968) by Robert Stevenson with Dean Jones, Michele Lee , David Tomlinson , Buddy Hacket and Joe Flynn . This first version " Love Bug ¨ results to be the best one , it is amusing story with lots of laughs but is a family film . It's one of the best and funniest of ¨Herbie¨ series . It was followed by ¨Herbie rides again (1974)¨ also by Robert Stevenson starred by Ken Berry , Stefanie Powers and Helen Hayes ; it's followed by ¨Herbie goes to Montecarlo¨ with Dean Jones , Don Knotts and Julie Sommers ; followed by ¨Herbie goes bananas¨ (1980 , or Herbie Torero) by Vincent McEveety starred by Charles Martin Smith and Cloris Leachman , among others and this 1997-for-television-movie with Bruce Campbell and John Hanna and a TV series ; the most part were filmed by Robert Stevenson and Vincent McEveety and usually starred by Dean Jones . Furthermore , a recent version based on the characters created by Bill Walsh starred by Linsay Lohan , Justin Long and Matt Dillon , being directed by Angela Robinson . The motion picture was professionally directed by Peyton Reed , though with no originality and it has nothing to do with original film . Peyton is a prestigious actor , writer , producer and filmmaker who has achieved great successes such as ¨Bring it on¨, ¨The break-up¨ , ¨Down with love and and especially ¨Yes Man¨ . Rating : Acceptable , 5,5/10 , worthwhile watching . Amusing and engaging film with effective combination of adequate special effects , live action , adventure , fantasy and humor . The children will get a kick out of this typical ¨Love Bug¨ film ,it's a great fun to watch and there are loads of entertainment in this one .
jthatcher-1
Well I was flipping channels and saw this on, and said "Hey, Isn't that B.C.?" Sure enough it was... Now here's where this is interesting, I was at a book signing in Ohio last year where Mr. C himself stated Hollywood isn't producing enough original movies (or something similar), and that they were taking the "Easy way out" and doing remakes of other movies. One that hey specifically targeted was Herbie Rides Again (with the formerly attractive Lindsey Lohan). Now, isn't this funny that he would state something like this when he himself was in a remake! Well, I guess if the money is there, we can't be beggars on the B list can we Bruce?
hershiser2
And you thought Herbie movies died way back in the day! Boy were you wrong! In fact, Herbie is not dead, just out-of-style. There was no need to even attempt to make this film. The only reason I bought it (yes, I bought it) was for Bruce Campbell, but even his great cheesy one-liners could not save this film. In fact, the few one-liners he has aren't even in his cheesy style, making this movie quite a disappointment.
Renaldo Matlin
John Hannah is fun as the bad guy -in a satirical kind of way- but he's still no match for the antics of David Tomlinson in the 1969-original. Kevin J. O'Connor does his best in the part of the goodhearted hero sidekick - but, far from a match for memorable Buddy Hackett. And then there is Bruce Campbell who is so-so as the human hero of the story. Thank God the star of the original movie series -Dean Jones- turns up. He is the only real link between the original and this remake. And to a guy who grew up on Herbie-movies it is a surprisingly tear-jerking and emotional moment as Jones -30 years later- gets behind the wheel of his Wolksvagen-pal one last time, although he doesn't actually drive off. This time around the main competition in the movie comes from a second bug called Horace (but it should be nicknamed "The Hate Bug"). Computer animations creates the basis for the effects, but the story however is what one would expect from the usual made-for-TV-Disney movie: barely average. Which is sad, because Herbie deserves more effort, and it doesn't take much to add more charm to the story of the Love Bug then what was managed here. For example in the music: One of the major assets of the original Love Bug-movie was it's charming catchy score -as lovable as the car itself. But composer Shirley Walker should have been kicked off the Disney-lot for this simple, below-by-the-numbers soundtrack. One would think it too was created by a computer! Would it hurt to keep some of the original music in the remake ? In the end The Love Bug 97's only real asset is our love for the little car with a heart, and nothing else. If there is a next time: let Dean Jones STAR in the thing, and let him and Herbie win their last big race, before letting them deservedly drive off into the sunset together. And us Herbie-fanatics could weep and weep... goodbye Herbie! Goodbye...
