The Love Bug
The Love Bug
NR | 01 January 0001 (USA)
SEASON & EPISODES

Reviews
ma-cortes

Amusing and entertaining first TV installment with the ¨Wolkswagen Love Bug¨ racing the tracks . Love Bug's entry in which Herbie is racing in competitions , it is full of pranks and car stunts that are great fun to see . Agreeable television's love bug Wolkswagen plenty of action , slapdash , laughs and entertainment . This hilarious Herbie story concerns about The Love Bug falls 'hood-over-wheels' for a classy chassis! . It deals with Herbie, the magical Volkswagen Beetle, being passed on to a new owner , a down-on-his-luck mechanic and race car pilot named Hank Cooper (Bruce Campbell) . Together, they must battle a dastardly racer named Simon Moore (John Hanna) and his devil-car "Horace", a nasty Herbie . Later on , evil Moore wants Herbie back, but Hank refuses and Simon wishes to compete against Cooper in the races, then he sabotaged Herbie before a car race so , he can vanquish . As the backdrop in the race scenes results to be spectacular as well as funny . Then, a big race was coming up and Herbie , the Volkswagen Beetle with a mind of its own undergoes a dangerous car race . Fortunately, the couple of pilots have a sleeve in the form of Herbie , the fantastic car , as they take the magical Wolkswagen Bug with a mind of its own as both of them compete in the notorious race and attempt to beat . So the two rogue pilots (John Hanna , Dana Gould) resort to all manner of cheats , legal or otherwise, to get it and are now attempting to get them back . Aboard their many crazy car, dastardly Simon and his hoodlum devise nefarious plans to stop the Love Bug . There is one obstacle however : Herbie . Miraculous Herbie take them for a ride and stumbles into evil hoodlums who pursue through roads and race tracks . Herbie with the number 53 intervenes in the biggest car race , a challenge among top competitors and quickly slipping in the ranking.This delightful car comedy displays great loads of amusement , fantastic race cars , slapstick , fun , giggles , chases are great fun to watch and being pretty entertaining . As always, Herbie the love bug , is helping the young couple -Bruce Campbell ,Alexandra Wentworth- find romance but encountering all sorts of hilarious problems along the way . It's an enjoyable movie for kids and for those who enjoy cars racing round and round and bounds and leaps carried out by Herbie . Herbie The Love Bug was a 1963 Volkswagen Beetle deluxe ragtop sedan painted in Volkswagen L87 pearl White . Under normal circumstances, the interior would be a matching white. However, Herbie's interior was painted a special non-reflective grey color so the camera and studio lights would not reflect . The actors seem to enjoy immensely ,such as Bruce Campbell , Clarence Williams II , Kevin J. O'Connor and the ordinary Dean Jones play of sympathetic manner ; of course , there appears the mean-spirited villains performed by John Hanna , Dana Gould , both of whom are top notch . The latter roles bear remarkable resemblance to ¨Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines¨ . Colorful cinematography though a perfect remastering is necessary and jolly soundtrack by Shirley Walker including a lively leitmotif . However , being the only Herbie movie without the George Bruns original and classic theme .This is a delightful film , a particular remake to original entry titled ¨The love bug¨(1968) by Robert Stevenson with Dean Jones, Michele Lee , David Tomlinson , Buddy Hacket and Joe Flynn . This first version " Love Bug ¨ results to be the best one , it is amusing story with lots of laughs but is a family film . It's one of the best and funniest of ¨Herbie¨ series . It was followed by ¨Herbie rides again (1974)¨ also by Robert Stevenson starred by Ken Berry , Stefanie Powers and Helen Hayes ; it's followed by ¨Herbie goes to Montecarlo¨ with Dean Jones , Don Knotts and Julie Sommers ; followed by ¨Herbie goes bananas¨ (1980 , or Herbie Torero) by Vincent McEveety starred by Charles Martin Smith and Cloris Leachman , among others and this 1997-for-television-movie with Bruce Campbell and John Hanna and a TV series ; the most part were filmed by Robert Stevenson and Vincent McEveety and usually starred by Dean Jones . Furthermore , a recent version based on the characters created by Bill Walsh starred by Linsay Lohan , Justin Long and Matt Dillon , being directed by Angela Robinson . The motion picture was professionally directed by Peyton Reed , though with no originality and it has nothing to do with original film . Peyton is a prestigious actor , writer , producer and filmmaker who has achieved great successes such as ¨Bring it on¨, ¨The break-up¨ , ¨Down with love and and especially ¨Yes Man¨ . Rating : Acceptable , 5,5/10 , worthwhile watching . Amusing and engaging film with effective combination of adequate special effects , live action , adventure , fantasy and humor . The children will get a kick out of this typical ¨Love Bug¨ film ,it's a great fun to watch and there are loads of entertainment in this one .

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wickedgood

I have seen every "Herbie" movie that is out there, and i have to say that this particular movie was my favorite. It's a fun film for all ages, having the child like appeal Herbie, who drives right into your heart. It also has fan favorite actors such as Bruce Campbell (Of Evil Dead fame, it was he who actually drew me to this movie.)And John Hannah (The Mummy) I think this movie deserved a theatrical release,for it did well enough for Disney for them to call back Bruce Campbell for another adventure. As TV movies and straight to video/DVD releases go this one is probably the best overall. Herbie is a fun character to watch and this one blows Lindsey Lohan's of the track. Puns intended.

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Benny06

I have seen this movie twice, and I was surprised to learn that this was a 'made for TV' release. I would never have guessed.I haven't seen the original "Love bug" but I'm sure this one could be just as good if not better than the original. It is great fun to watch, with some good special effects to go with. The all star cast really helps too. I can even remember almost crying at one stage.Bruce Campbell is great in the lead role, even if this movie is different to his usual style, and Alexandra Wentworth is a great match. John Hannah is good in the bad guy role.Overall, this movie is anything but a 'made for TV' movie and I'm giving it 7/10. I Highly recommend it to people who are usually disappointed with Disney's usual straight to video sequels.

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David Ogilvie

I watched this on TV and persevered to the end. Like most Herbie fans I saw the films as a kid and I'm watching this as a 30 year old, so maybe my feelings are a bit off. After watching the film I came away with the feeling more so that Disney was at fault for this disaster rather than Herbie not having any mileage.The script is decent enough for a kids movie, but its the action sequences that are just so poor. The special effects are really bad and putting myself as a kid I'd have to say that they looked amateurish. In previous versions of Herbie there was a sense of believability about Herbies capabilities and that was lost in this version. Horace the Evil VW seemed under utilised, they should n't have killed him off. The most annoying thing for me was there was just no sense of speed or tension. When Herbie was split down the middle I just had no sympathy for my fave VW at all.The acting is well, run of the mill. I guess most of the cast were not busy and it was money for nothing. I think this was John Hannahs first vehicle in the US market and he was reasonable. Liked his line where Herbie is split in two and he says 'oh a drivethru'. Bruce Campbell does it by the numbers. Dean Jones you can just imagine was the first person Disney phoned when they said they were going to make this. Still his attendance on this movie is needed and for fans of yester year well its a good touch.The thing about this film is, if you had kids and they seen this first then it would be nigh on impossible to make them watch the early superior outings of one of the most famous cars in movie history.

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