Herbie: Fully Loaded Film Review

Disney releases alot of films each and every year some good some bad and some that just plain old forgotten about. As is the case with the film that i'm about to reviewing for you all today as despite it being apart of a truly iconic Disney franchise and features a very well known movie car not alot of people talk about this movie and o then join me as I review the film that for some reason features a scene from one of the Scary Movie movies in it with the film in question being called simply just "Herbie: Fully Loaded" enjoy.

The plot of this film is when the lovable Volkswagen VW Beatle with a mind of his own ends up in the hands of a young girl who just wants to race the duo have to take on an egotistical race car driver. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in al honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad as it was the kind of plot that does work well with these Herbie movies but at the same time tho this films plot is eerily similar to the plot of the 1997 TV movie The Love Bug even down to them both having Herbie start out in a junk yard  but tho at the same time this is a plot that does work and to the films credit it does have alot of fun with it's plot and that is something that does make the plot of the film alot more enjoyable then what it really had any right to be as by all rights this films plot really shouldn't have worked and yet somehow this film does manage to pull of it's plot and make it a really fun filled plot which while it was done just as well not even ten years before the release of this film it is still a really good plot in it's own right that is alot of fun to see play out in this film and it just goes to prove that if a a plot works then you don't really need to change all that much as while this films plot does have some new elements to it it's still very much a Herbie plot with the plot of this film also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this film is Lindsay Lohan as Margaret "Maggie" C Peyton and Michael Keaton as Ray Peyton Sr.. Also starring in this film is Matt Dillon as Trip Murphy , Justin Long as Kevin , Breckin Meyer as Ray Peyton Jr. , Cheryl Hines as Sally , Jimmi Simpson as Crash , Jill Ritchie as Charisma , Thomas Lennon as Larry Murphy , Jeremy Roberts as Crazy Dave and Monica Manning as Monica Armstrong.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. Which is to be expected given just who is starring in this film but at the same time tho this films acting really could have been alot more better then what it actually was with it being clear as day that this films actors are either lost and have no clue what kind of performance to give in this film and that is due to the fact that this films director Angela Robinson quite clearly has no idea of how to direct her actors and get a good performance out them and when it comes to likes of Lindsay Lohan she really does need to a good director to get a good performance out of her as while she's a decent actor in her own right that's very much depending on the the film that she's starring in and in the case of this film her performance much like the rest of the acting that's in this very film s nothing more then just OK at best with the acting that's in this very film not really being helped by the fact that this films script is just so bad as it gives none of this films actors absolutely nothing to work with interms of what it is that there actual characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does lower the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.

Doing the CGI for this film is CIS Hollywood , Entity FX , Hammerhead Productions , Industrial Light & Magic , Lola Visual Effects , Make and Pixel Magic. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad but at the same tine tho given just who is doing for this film this films effects just aren't that good either with this film choosing to use copious amounts of CGI which only serves to date the film where as the effects in the original films are timeless because of the fact that they were done for real and because of the fact that the makers of those films had to actually be creative and find ways to make those effects not only happen but look good as well where as here the mantra seems to be that they'll just make it happen in a computer and when your going to make a film that really shouldn't be an effects heavy film an effects heavy film then you better make sure then your effects are really good and worth spending hundreds of million of American dollars because if not then all your going to do is end up with a film that has alot of really bad looking effects which is sadly the case for alot of the effects in this film as alot of them are laughably bad and just not that needed at all as all they do is age this film horribly and make this film look even more bad then it already really is.

Whilst this film was the last theatrically released Herbie movie to come after the release of Herbie Goes Banana's. There was also a made for TV remake of The Love Bug which is another movie seem to forget about despite the fact that it stars the unforgettable Bruce Campbell in the lead role but sadly for now this film is the final ever Herbie movie as despite Disney pushing out alot of TV shows and movies for Disney+ Herbie seems not to be one of them when he is the perfect candidate for having a new show or movie as there are alot of kids who might not have grown up with the original films and who would like to see his adventures and even if you wanted to make a legacy sequel to one of the other Herbie movies you could also do that as well as there's so many things that you could do with Herbie sequel all of which would work and all of which would be great for Disney+ but since Disney is seemingly putting more effort into giving us live action remakes that we don't want instead of giving us something that we don't know if we want yet or not it seems that Herbie is destined to be forgotten about unless your off a certain age and that really is a shame as one of these movies if there done right like they were with Herbie Goes To Monte Carlo can be some really fun and funny films and best of all is the fact that they don't cost much to make as there not CGI effects movies as you can just do all of the effects that you need to do practically like they would have done in the original movies and because of that any new Herbie movie or TV show would come across as being timeless from an effects point of view.

There are some things that do let this film down quite a bit the first of which is it's main character Margaret "Maggie" C Peyton just isn't that interesting. As while yes she does have an end goal and dreams of her own with her wanting to be a racer and her wanting to race for her families team there's nothing to this character that makes her stand out from all of the other characters in this film and while she does indeed come across as being somewhat likable the big dramatic third act break up scene just feels forced as it's something that that character wouldn't do and as a result of that is the fact it comes across as the writers of this film are writing her to be this pitch perfect character that has very little to no flaws as she's a great racer who somehow know how to fix cars and comes across as being right about everything an that doesn't make her interesting and as a result of that is the fact that when she does say that she wants to drive another car apart from Herbie it comes across as being forced as literally nothing up until this point in the film and this is something that very easily could have been fixed with a re-write of the films script as then you could highlight the fact that she can be a little bit goofy and that she is the kind of person who will always trade things in when it suits her something that would then cause her to have a change of character when she sees how that effects Herbie in a negative way something that we don't get to see in this film because of the fact that she's not written all that well as a character.

There are a few other things that I really didn't like about the film the first of which being that gave Herbie a love interest which just seemed pointless and was only there so that they could show off the Volkswagen New Beetle and that's really it. The other thing that I really didn't like about this film was it's villain Trip Murphy as there was nothing about his character to make him evil in the first place outside of the fact that he has an ego problem and that's really it and that's not enough to either make him interesting or even threatening with him just being there whenever the plot of the film demands that he turn up and not because of the fact that his character would actually be in these places and heck it's even safe to say that Trip Murphy is just as bland and forgettable as Maggie herself is with both of them being outshone in every single way by Michael Keaton who is the best the actor in this film with both Trip and Maggie being the kind of bland characters that Disney was pretty much always doing in there live action movies around this time frame in that there relying far to much on the character being played by a name actor so that they don't have to actually put in the work in creating an actually interesting character without realizing that by not creating either an interesting her or villain then your film is pretty much doomed to be forgotten about and given that two of the four writers of this film later went on to write Beetlejuice Beetlejuice you can tell that those two writers really do know how to create an interesting hero and villain when they really want to.

Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and forty minuets and fifty two seconds. Which is pretty much the exact grand total running time that you'd expect a film like this one to have as while this film does have more then there interms of plot to really cover that amount of running time the film really doesn't use it's running time all that well either as all of it's characters do come across as being really underdeveloped with some of them not even getting a lines of dialog despite them being major minor characters and alot of them just aren't that interesting or even memorable for that matter like Maggie's brother Ray Jr. who doesn't get alot of dialog infact I think he only gets a few paragraphs of dialog in total and yet he plays a key part in the films plot and that's not to mention the films rushed attempt of a romance between Maggie and Kevin as while the characters do indeed spend alot of time together all throughout the film the two actors just don't have much in the way of chemistry together with the film not even spending the time that it really needed to in order to fully develop that romance with the film even just straight up dropping during the second act for no reason whatsoever while alot of the previous Herbie movies have always done a somewhat passable job when it comes to there romance here it just feels tacked on and forced as it goes nowhere and adds nothing to the overall plot of the film and even Herbie himself does come across as being a slightly underdeveloped character which in his case does make sense as we've had four other movies to get across what his personality is like but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is a comedy that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. As this film does have some funny moments in it alot of this films jokes tho do clash with this films more realistic tone something that co-writers Robert Ben Garant & Thomas Lennon wanted the film with them even explaining back in 2011 "We are both very big fans of the old The Love Bug movies... but the old Herbie movies are corny in a way you can't get away with today... We needed to put Herbie in a much more real world. Not some dopey, illogical, kids-movie world, with characters like the crotchety old junk lot owner twirling his mustache and swearing, 'I'm gonna get that little car if it's the last thing I ever do!!!' Kids hate that kind of stupid s*** as much as grown-ups do... We set it in a very realistically portrayed world of San Fernando Valley Street racing: a macho world, where an old, beat-up car would get laughed at -- then be totally respected when it won some races." yet they still have scenes where Herbie is doing backflips and doing all of these impossible things that a Car wouldn't be able to do alot of which is played for laughs with them not really realizing that these movies are movies about a car that has a mind of it's own therefor any sense of realism goes right out the window and there for you can have alot more fun with it and while this film does indeed have some decent jokes in like the fact that they gave Herbie a face which whilst it is weird that the makers of this film would do does allow for some funny moments with the character this film does sadly have alot more bad jokes in it tho in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall while this might be the last Herbie movie the fact that this film made back more then three times it's budget when it was first released back in 2005 does go to show you that there is still live to be found in this old car of a franchise it just needs the right creative team to bring it back for one last race in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in his very film and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 4.5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very film well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official Disney fandom wiki page , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images really from this very film being the really great Google Images this is really because of the fact that really all of the images that I really indeed got and really used from the really great Google Images are all really high quality really with all of the images that really are all and of course really currently up and on the really great and the really solid Google Images really are all being really fairly high in quality and as well as them all really being fairly high in definition.