Walt Disney Home Video presents

Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005)

Maggie: Did you see the way I came off that guardrail?
Kevin: I saw. I don't know how you did that.
Maggie: All right, this is going to sound a little strange, but it wasn't me. I think it was Herbie.- Lindsay Lohan, Justin Long

Stars: Lindsay Lohan
Other Stars: Michael Keaton, Matt Dillon, Breckin Meyer, Justin Long, Cheryl Hines, Jimmi Simpson, Jill Ritchie, Jeremy Roberts, Thomas Lennon, Allen Bestwick, Benny Parsons, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Jarrett, Tony Stewart, Stuart Scott
Director: Angela Robinson

MPAA Rating: G for (nothing objectionable)
Run Time: 01h:40m:47s
Release Date: 2005-10-25
Genre: comedy

Style Grade	Substance Grade	Image Transfer Grade	Audio Transfer Grade	Extras Grade
C+	C	A	B+	B-

 

DVD Review

I realize that the idea of a Volkswagen Beetle coming to life and performing wild antics is not meant to appeal to adults as much as to children. Unfortunately, there are many family films superior to Herbie: Fully Loaded. As Maggie Peyton, Lindsay Lohan plays a recent college graduate who returns home before heading to New York and finds her dad (Michael Keaton) and brother Ray (Breckin Meyer) struggling to keep the family's NASCAR legacy alive. Ray is not cut out for racing, but it is in Maggie's DNA...and, apparently, Herbie's too. As a graduation present, Maggie's dad buys her the adorable 1963 Bug from a junkyard just before Herbie is crushed into a cube. Not exactly enthralled with the rusty car, Maggie takes it home only to discover that she's not driving the car, he's driving her!

Before you know it, Maggie and her dopey mechanic friend Kevin (Justin Long) are fixing up Herbie so he can race against the cocky Trip Murphy (Matt Dillon). After humiliating Trip in a street race, Maggie and Herbie prepare for a rematch that could land her $10,000 to help pay for her apartment in New York. (Funny, if I were driving a car that seemed to be alive, I don't think I'd be worrying about securing cash for my next month's rent as much as other things.) Herbie opens his hood and doors, winks with his headlights, and emits all sorts of noises to suggest a fragile emotional state. Under those circumstances, why do Maggie and company care that he can drive upwards of 180 miles per hour? This little Bug is throwing all our theories of life and evolution right out the window.

Director Angela Robinson fails to ignite any sense of excitement in the various race scenes, especially in the final NASCAR race that is filled with painfully awkward cameos by real life drivers. Each character plays like a cardboard cutout, especially the love story between Maggie and Kevin, which never feels natural. With cartoonish visual effects, Matt Dillon giving one of the hammiest performances of his career, and Lindsay Lohan's natural accessories being far more appealing than anything Herbie's packing, the movie comes across as a series of miscues at every stage of the production.

Thankfully, the DVD features a stellar anamorphic image transfer that is practically flawless. Accompanied by a lively Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, watching the DVD is somewhat entertaining due to the disc's presentation, it's just a shame that the movie isn't worth watching.

Rating for Style: C+
Rating for Substance: C

 

Image Transfer

	One
Aspect Ratio	1.85:1 - Widescreen
Original Aspect Ratio	yes
Anamorphic	yes

Image Transfer Grade: A
 

Audio Transfer

	Language	Remote Access
Dolby Digital 5.1	English, French, Spanish	yes

Audio Transfer Grade: B+ 

Disc Extras

Animated menu with music
Scene Access with 12 cues and remote access
Subtitles/Captions in English, French, Spanish with remote access
4 Other Trailer(s) featuring Lady and the Tramp: Two-Disc Platinum Edition DVD, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Sky High DVD, Kronk's New Groove DVD & Video
7 Deleted Scenes
3 Featurette(s)
1 Feature/Episode commentary by Angela Robinson
Packaging: Amaray
Picture Disc
1 Disc
1-Sided disc(s)
Layers: RSDL
Layers Switch: 00h:41m:48s

Extra Extras:

1. Alternate Title Opening—a storyboard presentation of the movie's original opening credits.
2. Lindsay Lohan Music Video: First—the song's original music video.
3. Bloopers—a gag reel of various outtakes from the set.

Extras Review: Before the main menu, there are four trailers promoting Lady and the Tramp: Two-Disc Platinum Edition, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Sky High, and Kronk's New Groove. Each is shown in nonanamorphic widescreen and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound. Extras relating to the actual movie begin with seven deleted scenes that can be played separately or together (11m:47s combined). Each scene is unfinished, with some CG animatics and rough sound work. Director Angela Robinson provides an optional commentary on each scene, explaining why she cut it and what the purpose of the scene was in the script. There's also an Alternate Title Opening (03m:29s) with an optional commentary by Robinson, in which she explains that they originally wished to emulate the original movies, but elected to use the current opening in order to give the story context. The sequence is only shown in storyboard form, so it's difficult to assess which title sequence is better.

Following that are bloopers (05m:16s), which focus mostly on Lindsay Lohan being silly and Justin Long playing practical jokes. Lindsay Lohan Music Video: First (03m:35s) is downright hilarious. It's so clichéd and "adult" that there's no way not to laugh at this music video for a children's movie. A Day at the Races (13m:55s) is little more than a fluff publicity piece in which Lindsay and real life NASCAR driver Deborah Renshaw discuss various aspects of driving. Renshaw points out a few interesting tidbits, but most of her comments are elementary. Breaking the Rules: Stunts From Herbie: Fully Loaded (09m:07s) goes through the various action scenes from the movie and shows what's done practically and with CGI enhancement.

Bringing Herbie to Life (11m:42s) builds on the previous featurette, discussing the various challenges of staging race scenes and coming up with Herbie's different designs. Rounding out the special features is a commentary by Angela Robinson. She narrates a bit, but sprinkles enough information about the actors and her intentions to make this worth a listen.

Extras Grade: B-
 

Final Comments

Herbie: Fully Loaded plays like a half-cocked attempt to cash in on an outdated franchise. The DVD looks nice, but the extras are just as superficial as the movie.

Nate Meyers 2005-11-09