you
have you ever wanted to see a
child-friendly version of Christine
while the lovebug is it this is the
story about her be a car who is in fact
alive he attaches himself to a driver
played by Dean Jones who's down on his
luck and can barely pay the bills so he
tries to find a new car to enter some
races with of course Herbie doesn't seem
like the kind of car to win a lot of
races but it follows him home so he
strikes up a deal with a guy who owns
the car played by David Tomlinson
who hands him over and sure enough he's
winning a ton of races now but Tomlinson
well of course is a racer himself starts
to catch on himself that the car is
alive and so he makes Dean Jones a deal
whoever wins the most races will
officially own the car
no more payments needed so quite
literally the race is on to see who can
win and who will take permanent
ownership of her fee of course being a
Disney film they're side characters
there's romance there's a lot of goofy
comedy and a lot of great visuals when
you actually say the synopsis to
yourself though a car that's alive what
do you really expect out of this I think
going in with that mindset you might
find that the movie is actually a bit
better than you think it might be but
again going in with the mindset that
it's about a car that's a lie first of
all the car doesn't talk or have any
eyes or a mouth or anything like that
it's all just done through its actions
which some would argue would inform that
much of a personality but with the
passion and caring that the side
characters as well as the direction
takes you do sort of get an idea what
he's like he's energetic he's thoughtful
he's kind but he's also very easy to
offend he's got a big heart and always
wants to do what is right even if he can
get a little jealous at times heck he
can get downright depressed there's
actually a scene where he tries to
commit suicide yeah it's that kind of
weird friggin movie so if you can allow
the goofiness of this to kind of set in
it's actually kind of enjoyable and just
how goofy it is it strangely works
because even though there is a lot of
comedy and goofy moments the direction
actually takes it kind of seriously in
fact you kind of laugh at how seriously
it's being taken sometimes again a car
committing suicide really think about
that without laughing it's taking a
goofy subject so seriously that after a
while when you're done laughing at it
you two
almost kind of take it seriously well
the key we're being posed Dean Jones is
a good lead Michelle Lee is good support
Buddy Hackett is Buddy Hackett again
just our adds to the goofiness but
easily the best part is David Tomlinson
as the villain it strange that he's been
in so many Disney films but he's never
straight up then the bad guy he was a
hero in Bennett's and broomsticks and in
Mary Poppins he wasn't really a villain
he was just sort of led in the wrong
direction but here he's a straight-up
bandi and oh my god does he just relish
every moment of it look at that snobby
smile look at those eyes fume whenever
he gets angry listen to that voice
whatever he screams I beat him pounded
in can I finish being generous Joe does
do a job dare you patronize me I kill
there's more going on here than meets
the eye
I'm not losing my dog I can't find out
what you can't help but laugh every time
he's on screen he steals every single
moment the slapstick as well as the
driving in this movie is pretty damn
impressive
again it's over-the-top its cartoony
it's so silly but yeah it gets a giggle
I think my absolute favorite is when
Tomlinson gets knocked into the car and
they find out how he's in there I piss
my pants every time I see that scene
some scenes are definitely a product of
the times but actually that can get a
good laugh too like here's something
that definitely only makes sense back
then but it's still really hilarious we
all prisoners chickie baby we all locked
in it's all for something so silly as a
car is alive but again you kind of give
it credit bed never quite went too far
like I said it's giving it a face or
like a boys or anything like that
that would have been total overkill but
this this is just the right amount of
goofy if I did have a major criticism of
it I would say it is a little too long
there's only so many times we can see
dean jones get sad and then brought back
up and that looks like they're gonna
lose and then they're back in the game
again and then they have to convince
somebody else that Herbie's alive and
yeah it's sort of repetitive he could
have used a real trimming but again for
what we could have gotten this isn't
that bad or at least it's entertaining
ly bad but with good elements that kind
of make it entertaining ly good I don't
know just say the phrase it's a movie
about a car that's alive if you have no
interest in an idea like that then
you're not gonna like this movie but if
you're even remotely interested I say
there's a chance that this could
actually get some good laughs out of you
it's hard for me not to like it there's
just something so innocent and silly
about it as well as a lot of effort yeah
it's stupid but I can't help but like it
Herbie will always have a place in my
mechanical heart