Herbie! You guys remember Herbie right? The Disney film series? About the sentient VW Bug that loves to race? The film series Disney really tried to make a thing and people only remember like… two movies. Well here’s one of the sequels! Okay to not be entirely cynical, The Love Bug (1968) was one of the several movies Disney made with actor Dean Jones, along with fellow bonkers plot movie That Darn Cat (1965) both, funny enough, directed by Robert Stevenson. It was a huge critical and box office success, raking in a whopping $51 million against a $5 million budget and becoming one of the highest grossing films of 1969. It garnered a few sequels; Herbie Rides Again (1974), Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1977), Herbie Goes Bananas (1980), and Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005). The movie we’re going to be talking about is a made for TV sequel that aired in 1997 starring the groovy chin himself Bruce Campbell with a cameo by original star Dean Jones. Funny enough in 1997 That Darn Cat got a remake… that also had a cameo by Dean Jones… Coincidence? I think so!
Bruce Campbell plays Hank Cooper, a down on his luck racecar driver turned down on his luck mechanic who wants his chance to be at the top. Hank is accompanied by his artist friend Roddy played by Kevin J. O'Connor who is two joints short of being fully baked and Hank's ex-girlfriend Alex Davis played by Alexandra Wentworth, a sports writer who serves as Hank’s love interest. Hank picks up and races Herbie in a fix-it race for amateur racecar driver, where he wins because Herbie is a god in car form. The villain of the movie is Simon Moore III played by John Hannah, best known as Jonathan from The Mummy (1999) who plays a delightfully hammy villain that matches the same machismo energy that Campbell brings. This is also the first movie, to my knowledge I‘ve never seen the Herbie sequels, to explore the origins of Herbie. He was invented by German scientist Dr. Gustav Stumpfel played by Harold Gould. Turns out Herbie was made by order of the American Government and gained sentience by the power of true love. Simon Moore forces Dr. Stumpfel to make a twin car, an evil version of Herbie named Horace. Moore also orders his lackey to destroy Herbie that leads Hank and company to hold a funeral for him. A Herbie film with a funeral scene sounds ridiculous but it’s delivered so earnestly. In a moment that rivals Nick Fury in the early MCU days, Dean Jones reprises his role as Jim Douglas from the first movie, and along with Dr. Stumpfel, they rebuild Herbie and challenge Simon Moore to a race. Hank, of course, wins, and Horace is destroyed in the process. Ending with Hand getting back together with Alex and riding off into the sunset.
The Love Bug (1997) isn’t an entirely noteworthy film. It aired on TV as part of The Wonderful World of Disney anthology series, which by the late 90s was producing tons of made for tv live action films, and has only ever received a VHS release. The version I found on YouTube was a VHS rip and included the pre-movie trailers. Remember 102 Dalmatians(2000)? Or Disney’s take on The Miracle Worker(2000)? It’s enjoyable enough, but the movie holds Bruce Campbell back from going full Bruce Campbell but when he throws a quip or a one-liner it does get a chuckle, and John Hannah chews every scene he’s in. I found it very interesting that the creation of Horace mirrored Christine(1983). I want to make a special note of Mickey Dolenz who plays Donny Shotz, a big Texan car parts guy. He’s funny in his scenes but he’s sorely not in a lot of them. The few shots of CG used in the movie has aged like milk. It was the late ‘90s and CG was nothing like it was in the early to mid 2000s but it’s used sparingly and it's not on screen for very long.
All in all this movie wasn’t great, but it wasn’t awful. It’s inoffensive. I first learned of this movie through a Bruce Campbell meme page on Facebook who made a post about it. I saw the post once but it lingered with me for the longest time and I had to review it. If you ever feel the need to see this movie, its easily available on YouTube via VHS rips. I give this movie two skulls out of five. Steve says; GRENADE!?
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