Sorry to sound like Scrooge, but after seeing these films once again in the late '90s, I did not particularly enjoy this late '60s Disney movie favorite, nor its sequels. I watched them when they came out and was mildly amused at that time, but these Herbie flicks did not age well. I can understand why they did a remake recently.
I know it's a fantasy, but it just looks now so stupid it's almost beyond description. In a nutshell, we have a 40-horsepower VW bug that wins auto races because it's "alive," complete with a personality and - get this - a soul! Meanwhile, the driver of the race car (Dean Jones as the annoying "Jim Douglas") thinks he's responsible for the race victories. Well, at least that made sense. The film turns out to be a propaganda piece for Buddhism!! I kid you not!
In fairness, Disney and other studios who have done animation have always made inanimate objects human-like and many times we laugh at that, myself included. So, I'm not really making fun of the premise but it just looks and sounds so dated 40 years later, especially the San Francisco hippie scenes.
"Herbie," by the way, was a likable "guy." It was good to see Benson Fong (Charlie Chan films) again, and Joe E. Ross (Bilko, Car 54, Where Are You?) and even goofy Buddy Hackett as "Tennessee Steinmetz." I always found it a shame, though, that humorous stand-up comics like Hackett and Don Rickles played so many stupid roles in these '60s films.
I know it's a fantasy, but it just looks now so stupid it's almost beyond description. In a nutshell, we have a 40-horsepower VW bug that wins auto races because it's "alive," complete with a personality and - get this - a soul! Meanwhile, the driver of the race car (Dean Jones as the annoying "Jim Douglas") thinks he's responsible for the race victories. Well, at least that made sense. The film turns out to be a propaganda piece for Buddhism!! I kid you not!
In fairness, Disney and other studios who have done animation have always made inanimate objects human-like and many times we laugh at that, myself included. So, I'm not really making fun of the premise but it just looks and sounds so dated 40 years later, especially the San Francisco hippie scenes.
"Herbie," by the way, was a likable "guy." It was good to see Benson Fong (Charlie Chan films) again, and Joe E. Ross (Bilko, Car 54, Where Are You?) and even goofy Buddy Hackett as "Tennessee Steinmetz." I always found it a shame, though, that humorous stand-up comics like Hackett and Don Rickles played so many stupid roles in these '60s films.