 Thoughts while sitting in a Father’s Day screening of Herbie: Fully Loaded with my wife and two daughters, who are on opposite ends of the film’s tween target audience. Although neither girl had seen any of the original “Love Bug” series (as I did when in their age group), both have an eye for “slug bugs” since Volkswagen introduced the new Beetle design in 1998, after new versions of the 1950-1970 model had not been made for a generation. In light of the almost instant popularity of the redesigned Beetle, why did it take Disney so long to make another film in this series?
 In fact, Herbie: Fully Loaded follows in the recent Disney tradition of taking some of its “old-fashioned” films, some from its most artistically dreadful era, and giving them a fresh look for a new generation of younger viewers: most notably Flubber and The Parent Trap.
 In Herbie: Fully Loaded, the ‘63 bug fans came to love is resurrected from a junkyard by Maggie Peyton (Lindsay Lohan), who is given her choice of any car on the lot by her father, aging race driver Ray Peyton Sr. (Michael Keaton). The Peyton dynasty, or lack thereof, is being carried on by Ray Peyton Jr. (Breckin Meyer), Maggie’s older brother. But in an impromptu street race against NASCAR champ Tripp Murphy (Matt Dillon), we discover that Maggie perhaps should be carrying the Peyton legacy when she is forced into racing by Herbie.
 Dillon proves to be a worthy villain in a role that will remind older viewers of a previous rogue played by Dillon in the 1980 film My Bodyguard, a much better family film than this one. The temptations that Tripp offers Maggie lead her to make some choices that damage her relationships with Herbie, her father and a close friend and mechanic named Kevin (Justin Long).
Herbie: Fully Loaded emphasizes loyalty, honesty and remaining faithful – both in our relationships and in our sense of God-given calling. Maggie discovers that, with the support of others, her dreams are within reach.  The 92-minute film is cute, but not saccharine; its screenplay well-organized, but predictable. The slapstick antics may have some laughing out loud. My 7-year-old enjoyed it quite a bit; the 13-year-old found it mildly amusing. There are also some nice touches in the film, such as having Herbie learn from watching Maggie’s skateboard moves. And the computer-generated special effects seem believable.
This certainly isn’t a great children’s film, nor am I ready to call it a good film. But it’s good, wholesome and light-hearted entertainment for families – the kind that makes for a good summer afternoon outing. |
