When you think about Herbie Goes To Monte Carlo raises some interesting philosophical questions. Such as how is the sex of a car determined? Are here certain part variations as there are with animals or is the sex determined by the owner?
You won't get the answer to these questions, but with Dean Jones as racing driver Jim Douglas back at the steering wheel you will get a reasonably fun movie from the Disney Studio. This is the third Herbie film from the Magic Kingdom and it lives up to the standard created by the first one.
Jones after giving the car over to the tender care of Helen Hayes in the second film is back at the wheel, this time with Don Knotts instead of Buddy Hackett as his mechanic. Though I like Knotts very much as a performer, something was definitely missing without Buddy Hackett in the film. You'd have to have seen the first to appreciate it, but Hackett was the first to discover the true essence of Herbie, the Volkwagen with a soul.
Dean and Don have several problems to overcome. The first is a pair of inept jewel thieves who nearly get themselves caught even with all the museum layout and security systems information. To avoid capture Bernard Fox and Roy Kinnear dump one very large diamond into Herbie's gas tank before the Grand Prix race from Paris to Monte Carlo. The second is an officious German driver who apparently well remembers that Volkswagen's were not vehicles of sport from the Third Reich. Eric Braeden is one of those Germans you just love to hate.
The final problem is Herbie who takes one look at the lines on the car Julie Sommars is driving and guess what, her car has a soul as well. I guess you needed a handsome, devilish may car, rogue like Herbie to bring it out. He also of course brings Julie and Dean together, though I do have to wonder what happened with Michele Lee from the original film.
Nice location scenery of France, the countryside and the metropolitan areas of Paris and Monte Carlo definitely help one enjoy this film even if you're not a devoted fan of the soulful Herbie.
