Herbie: Fully Loaded review

No, the title isn't a reference to an intoxicated Herbie. This is, after all, a Disney movie and in Disney's world people don't drink, swear or have anything to do with sex. This last element led to rumours that Lindsay Lohan's curvaceous figure had been digitally reduced so as not to prompt any un-Disneylike thoughts. The result is that Herbie: Fully Loaded is cute and wholesome family fare in the vein of the earlier films about the 1963 Volkswagen Beetle with a mind of its own.

One significant difference between this contemporary version and the previous Herbie films is the use of computer graphics to enhance the performance capabilities of the lovable bug. Its use is too obvious to be convincing and succeeds only in undermining the car's endearing personality. It's been 25 years since Herbie went Bananas so few of Fully Loaded's young audience will be familiar with the white VW with the number 53 emblazoned on its side, but it doesn't take long for Herbie to win new friends.

The opening title sequence encapsulates what Herbie's been up to in the intervening years, including operating as a taxi and a stint at bullfighting before a series of misfortunes landed him at Crazy Dave's scrapyard. It's here that Maggie Peyton (Lohan), who secretly harbours a desire to drive for the family's racing team, comes with her father Ray (Michael Keaton) in search of a graduation present. Looking battered and bruised and facing imminent crushing, Herbie summons all his efforts to get noticed. It's a fun scene and one in which Maggie succumbs to Herbie's irresistibility.

Ecstatic at being saved, Herbie speeds away with a shocked Maggie hanging on on for dear life and crying out, "I'm being carjacked by own car." After taking her to a local garage run by Maggie's old friend Kevin (Justin Long), Herbie gets a tune-up while Maggie and Kevin become reacquainted. The car's extraordinary powers are confirmed when with Maggie at the wheel, though more a passenger than a driver, it beats NASCAR driver Trip Murphy (Matt Dillon) in a street race. For the egotistical Murphy, the humiliating defeat sets up Fully Loaded's central story as things head towards a rematch.

Lohan has the requisite pluck and fresh smile to make Maggie as winning as her car, while Dillon is deliciously wicked as the conniving Murphy. But the film's star is unquestionably Herbie, who packs a big personality under such a small bonnet and at 42, obviously still has plenty of tread on his tires judging by his romance with a much younger bright yellow Beetle. Considering the age difference, it's all very tastefully handled. This is, after all, a Disney movie.

Kevin Murphy