The Love Bug

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...

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.

I wanted to say "Hail to the king", but it's not Bruce Campbell that impressed me in this movie. Bruce was okay, not great. The thing with this particular movie was: it made me cry. Now, you see, as an adult with a fable for "hardcore" horror movies like Evil Dead and stuff, that is quite embarrassing. And it's not the quality of the movie, that made me cry.

It could have, because it was pretty poor in some way, but the whole thing reminded me of the original Love Bug. And my childhood.

*Sniff*

Sorry for that. Let's face it, nobody wanted to know Herbies origin (which idea was very very ... way off) and the special effects were just basic (although they convinced me in the half-driving sequence). The scene my eyes gone wet was of course ol' Jim Douglas reunited with our pal Herbie. Aaaaaooowwwwwwhhhhhh! Joy.

The score by Shirley Walker and Kristopher Carter (Batman Beyond(!)) was alright, although I wished to have this whistle theme from the original included.

Anyway, as one of the other reviewers said: a cute film. Or was it remake?

The race could have been faster... that's for sure!

Love Bug 1997 was fun to watch and I laughed at a lot of it, but mostly Bruce Campbell's humor (either written by him or ad lib). I loved the evil bug and wish I owned one. It looked like it was fun to make, and since it's about Herbie, you can't focus too much on things that couldn't really happen (like a car still functioning after being cut in half).

Disney, in making this movie, made lots of mistakes. First of all, the script was not at all like previous Herbie films. There was swearing and other bad words there. in addition, the "story" how Herbie was created was all lies. Everyone knows that Jim Douglas' friend Tennesee Steinmetz first named Herbie, and that all VWs had this peculiar quality (shown in Herbie Rides Again). This "Stumphel" thing was totally off. Also, Herbie himself was done wrong! Color, stripe color, sunroof color, interior, 53s, and other things too numerous. The only positive thing was Dean Jones, who was by far the best actor in that movie! I wish Disney would make another quality movie!