The Love Bug

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!

Basically this is a full-on TV film, but somehow manages to star one of the finest B-Actors ever to enter the movie industry. The whole fact it has the 'classic' love bug is merely lost as you are completely overwhelmed by the pure skill of Bruce taking over the screen. "Bruce" I hear you cry, but who is he? Well for all those of you who have lived on the moon for the last few years, Bruce Campbell is a cult legend, not only has he dabbled his hand in the horror-esque genre (Maniac Cop) and the completely superb classic trilogy of 'The Evil Dead' but he also starred in one of the finest movies to come out of Hollywood in a while, 'The Hudsucker Proxy.' Also starring John Hannah, who you might recognise from such films as 'Sliding Doors' and 'The Mummy' plays the evil ex-pro formula one driver(Simon Moore III) who just 'hates that little car!' Bruce walks through the film like a breeze until original star of the Disney 'Love Bug' movies Dean Jones or as many a film fan will know him as, 'JIM DOUGLAS!' Only here does Bruce have some real on-screen competition, but even then, you still feel Bruce is the master. As for the actual film, I'd say the novelty value outclasses the actual quality of the film, the acting is poor (aside from the two named above) the script is terrible and the end is really weird for no apparent reason. I wouldn't give the film an actual mark due to the fact as a TV movie, there is no way it can ever score above about a five so I'll leave it at that. One last thing, if you are a beetle car lover (and I know some of you are) the 'evil car' is top notch and an entertainment in itself.

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.

This movie was just wonderful! It brought so many memories flooding back to me that I cried all the way thru. Just as classic as the original Herbie movies. Having Dean Jones in the film made it that more special. Way to go Disney! We need more movies like this from you. The Love Bug Rides Again!

5th film in the Love Bug series (following The Love Bug, Herbie Rides Again, Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo, and Herbie Goes Bananas), incorrectly labeled a remake is actually a sequel despite it's title (a lot of the original film's plot is reworked but isn't that true of most sequels?) Dean Jones portrays original owner Jim Douglas in the odd numbered films, including this one but he is delegated to a much smaller part (but it does assure us this is a sequel and not a remake.) Bruce Campbell takes over as the new owner of Herbie (hey, if Ken Berry could do it?) Not as good as the first three (Dean Jones was in one and three and how can you beat Helen Hayes driving Herbie around a high rise ledge in number two?) but better than the fourth (which always seemed more like a Benji film to me), and better than the short-lived series that had buried the series for a long time. Apparently there were many changes of continuity in story line from the original and the VW's detailing (hey it's been 28 years and quite a few crashes, why not a little face lift?), but this isn't the type of film to worry about such things. Just have fun and enjoy. It's good to see Herbie working again and he's held up better than most of Hollywood's movie stars.