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Herbie Fully Loaded
The "little car that could" is back, helping teen racer Lindsay Lohan fulfil her dreams in this Disney family comedy
Possibly the weirdest thing about Disney's relaunch of the Herbie franchise, which brought the company great success in the 1960s and 1970s, is that rather than reboot the series with a fresh origin, they've instead served up what is effectively the fifth Herbie movie. This is underlined by an opening montage of clips from previous instalments like The Love Bug (1968), Herbie Rides Again (1974) and Herbie Goes Bananas (1980), charting the rise to fame of the number 53 Volkswagen Beetle with a mind of its own, and also showing his eventual fall from grace, ending up with him in a junkyard. Herbie's saved from being squashed flat in a crusher by being bought as a graduation present for Maggie Peyton (Lohan), a teenager who still has dreams of joining her family's NASCAR racing team. It's a dream that she's put on hold since her racing habit got her into an accident, causing problems in her relationship with her father, race team manager Ray Sr (Keaton). Maggie feels that she's put this behind her and is now set for a new job in the big city, until Herbie's determination for her to follow her heart's desire ends up with her accidentally competing against arrogant racing legend Trip Murphy (Dillon) and winning. Murphy isn't about to let this stand, and is soon going to ridiculous lengths to try and triumph over Herbie, while Maggie has to decide whether to go for the easy path or try to realise her dreams. Helmed by Angela Robinson, the director behind lesbian teen spy comedy D.E.B.S., this is a bright and vibrant family movie that keeps the colour cranked up to maximum, and injects a surprising amount of heart into the predictable teen drama that drives the script. Lohan gives another efficient performance, although her time as a clean-cut teen princess is running out, while Michael Keaton lends a layer of sadness and gravitas to a role that could easily have been a two-dimensional father who's scared of letting go of his kids. Top marks, however, have to go to Matt Dillon who turns in a hugely enjoyable villain and bravely resists the temptation to go over the top. Keeping Trip ridiculous but firmly within the realms of reality, Dillon gives a creepily seductive frisson to many of his scenes with Lohan, most particularly the sequence where he tempts her away from Herbie with the prospect of a ride in his own racing car. In fact, it's the weird chemistry between Dillon and Lohan, as well as the effectiveness of some of the drama, which highlights the film's biggest problem. No matter how hard it tries, it never succeeds in getting the emotional side of the story to join up with the fact that this is a film about a sentient VW Beetle, and there's a quaintness to the central concept of Herbie that feels terribly out of place in the 21st century. The effort to keep the light-hearted slapstick tone of the earlier movies is understandable, and the effects that bring Herbie to life are agreeably low-tech (apart from a handful of CGI shots that allow Herbie to carry off impossible stunts like skateboarding tricks), but the mix of teen drama and pre-teen comedy remains an awkward and haphazard one. Verdict A flawed but entertaining family movie, Herbie Fully Loaded has plenty of fun moments, but Disney's hopes for a continued franchise may be a little misplaced. |
