Maggie Peyton, the new owner of Number 53 - the free-wheelin' Volkswagen bug with a mind of its own - puts the car through its paces on the road to becoming a NASCAR competitor. Unlike the horrible new Ghostbusters movie this is a film starring a woman and directed by a woman would i have prefer someone else instead of Lindsay Lohan? You betcha. Also the movie has a pretty cool soundtrack i mean common 4.7 is a little bit harsh the acting isn't that bad sure the film is over the top and kinda goofy but don't take it serious and you will love it also i would like Michael Keaton have a bit of bigger role but i'm OK with it also i'm sure they could pick someone better than Matt Dillon as the bad guy but i didn't mind it Herbie Fully Loaded is not a perfect movie but it's not a bad movie also.

Herbie the Love Bug Number 53 has fallen on tough times. He's in the junkyard ready to be scraped. Ray Peyton Sr. (Michael Keaton) is struggling with his son Ray Jr. (Breckin Meyer) to pay the bills racing. Sr. takes his daughter Maggie (Lindsay Lohan) out to buy a car from the junkyard. Tomboy former street racer Maggie wants a muscle car but Herbie intervene. She and her old friend Kevin (Justin Long) fix up the Bug. Despite promising her dad never to race again, she gets into a street race with arrogant top racer Trip Murphy (Matt Dillon) as the mysterious Maxx.It's going for the same silly family fun as the originals with limited success. A couple of things bug me. The first is Lohan's constant squealing. It may be cute for some but it gets a little annoying. The second is that everybody goes nuts over Maggie making an offhanded comment about liking Trip's car. The CG Bug isn't quite the same charming old VW Bug. The movie probably needs a good comedian to clown around. This is OK but not that good.

When I was a child I loved the original movie The Love Bug. Based only on half-forgotten memories the movie was pretty harmless and can entertain children for an hour and a half. To be fair this also is a movie I haven't seen since I was a child but this actually stands out more (but not in a good way).The plot is the recycled plot you see in every kids film about inspiration ever made. Girl finds something that changes her life, girl decides to start using it to her advantage in doing something she (or the thing - considering if it's alive or not) likes or even loves, a complication must arise where the thing is almost taken away from the girl, the thing gets fixed and there must be one final obstacle for the girl and the thing to succeed.I reviewed a pretty similar movie last night, I'll admit that. The problem is that with this everything is contrived. Herbie is to the point of being cartoonish, how many 1963 Volkswagen's have you seen drive alongside walls and do a flip? We're supposed to take that seriously as an audience! Just like the same 1963 Volkswagen destroying a monster truck.The villain makes absolutely no sense. I mean I get that he is a sore loser but putting the competition in a Demolition derby show? Wouldn't the car be worth quite a bit? I know next to nothing about this stuff but it is almost an antique car! Wouldn't taking it away and selling it make more sense? But I digress.The characters also make little sense. Lindsay Lohan plays a teenage girl who wants to do racing but can't because her father wants to be protective of her because her mother died while racing, okay - fine. But why are you letting her brother race? That's either twisted motivations that make no sense or the father is a sexist.Not to mention that... Herbie falls in love with another Volkswagen. I wish I was kidding when I typed this. I'm not against kids films but it really makes you ask questions... like WHAT THE HELL AM I WATCHING?!?! If your making a movie about a car coming to life, fine - it can make way for harmless kids entertainment (like... I don't know THE ORIGINAL) but a love relationship for the car in a kids film is just too... I guess the word is questionable but that's an understatement.It's been a long time since I've seen this movie or the original but the original I remembered as harmless kids fun. This is just weird, alien, over the top and downright ridiculous. It also doesn't help that the story has been done to death and it was better in those other films. Why? I don't know BECAUSE THERE IS NO LOVE RELATIONSHIPS INVOLVING CARS. If you have a choice between this movie and one of the other movies with this recycled premise, choose the other movie with the recycled premise - it'll be better and won't have you ask questions.

When I was a kid (long ago), I saw all four "Herbie" movies, and I can remember being kind of underwhelmed by them even at that tender age. In fact, I thought the last two of the original four were really lame. So I made it a point to avoid "Herbie Fully Loaded" when it came out. But it came on television recently, and I decided to give it a chance since I'd be seeing it for free.I was surprised. Now, I will admit that the movie has its share of flaws. It doesn't explain why Herbie, in the time between the previous movie and this movie went downhill as a racer, and why Herbie had been forgotten by the racing community (and its audience) - you would think a Beetle that kept winning races would be remembered by SOMEONE! I could go on with listing its flaws, but I found its charms outweighed its flaws. For starters, the protagonists are very likable, down to earth and not annoyingly goofy. And Dillon's character of the rival racer was not broad and instead more of a realistic villain.The special effects are a mix of "old school" effects like the original movies used, mixed in with CGI. I actually found the combination worked, blending with each other well.I'm not saying that this is a movie to actively seek out... but if you come across it while in a silly mood, I think there's a good chance you'd find it an agreeable way to pass the time.