(Herbie) The Love Bug
1969's The Love Bug introduced audiences to Herbie, a sentient 1963 Volkswagen Beetle who comes into the possession of washed-up racecar driver Jim Douglas (Dean Jones). Douglas regains confidence driving the remarkable little car, finds love in the unlikely assistant (Michele Lee) to his villainous rival (David Tomlinson), and finally learns to accept and appreciate Herbie as far more than a car.
The film is comprised mostly of gags (culminating in Herbie splitting in half and coming in both first and third in the final race) and various driving sequences, both in races and around San Francisco, using rear projection. Not all the effects hold up nearly 60 years later, but the film's goofy spirit certainly does (although I wished more than once someone would turn down Buddy Hackett at least two notches).
Developed from a story by Gordon Buford, The Love Bug was the last live-action Disney film produced prior to Walt Disney's death, and it turned out to be a massive hit for Disney which chose to launch a series of mostly disconnected sequels over the years keeping Herbie but swapping out the various humans characters he would help from one film to the next (although Jones would return to reprise his role of Jim Douglas in the third film Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo).
A mostly inoffensive film, those who saw The Love Bug (or other Herbie films) while growing up are likely to have a soft spot for for the car and its adventures. If you are viewing it for the first time as an adult some of Herbie's antics (such as shooting oil on to the villain's shoe or foam in his face) may lead to more groans than laughs. If a bit childish and uneven in spots (sometimes coming off like a live-action version of Wacky Races), there's still enough fun here to drag Herbie across the finish line.
- Title: The Love Bug
- IMDb: link
