Movie Review: Herbie the Love Bug Collection

Stars: 5 out of 5
Pros: Fun movies with plenty of warm memories from childhood

Cons: None for me

The Bottom Line:

Delightful kid films

In one convenient package

Enjoy many times

A VW Race Car? That's Only the Beginning of the Fun

Here in the Herbie: The Love Bug Collection are four movies I watched over and over again as a kid.  Yep, Herbie was a hero of my childhood.  It's a wonder I didn't buy a VW Bug when I grew up.

This set starts off with the original, 1969's The Love Bug.  This movie not only introduces us to Herbie, the VW with brains and heart, but also to Jim Douglas (Dean Jones), a disgraced race car driver who starts winning after he buys "the little car."  He thinks it is because of his skill, but his roommate Tennessee (Buddy Hackett) thinks it is because the car is winning for him.  Rounding out the cast is Michele Lee as the love interest and David Tomlinson as a disreputable car dealer.

As with most franchises, this one is the best (although I do enjoy them all).  The story is decent if a tad slow in a spot or two, but the slapstick humor and big race that take up the second half imprinted themselves on my mind as a kid and are just as good as I remembered them.  The cast does a remarkable job, and the special effects, done in the days before computers would take over that department, still impress today.

1974 brought the first sequel, Herbie Rides Again.  Herbie is the only character who returns.  He's not even racing.  Instead, this movie finds him trying to protect Helen Hayes from a real estate tycoon who wants to take over her old firehouse and turn it into a high rise.  Also appearing in this movie are Stefanie Powers, Ken Berry, and Keenan Wynn as the villain.

I've always found it weird that Keenan Wynn showed up here as his character from the Absent Minded Professor Movies.  They could have easily cast him but named the character something else.  Either way, he and the rest of the cast do a great job.  You really don't miss the racing the plot is so strong.  And it contains some pretty funny moments as Herbie drives poor Keenan Wynn out of his mind.

Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo returned Dean Jones and his character Jim to the fold.  The 1977 entry took the driver and race car to Paris for a comeback.  Don Knotts is along for the ride as their mechanic.  Trouble ensues when Herbie falls for a Lancia also entered in the race and two thieves hide a giant diamond in Herbie's gas tank.

While I was thrilled to see Jim back for this movie, I always wondered what happened to him in the years in between.  That was never addressed.  None of the other characters from the first one are even mentioned, including Michele Lee's character.  The stolen diamond plot bears a remarkable resemblance to the Pink Panther franchise as well.  Leaving those elements aside, this movie provides plenty more laughs as love makes Herbie even more unpredictable.

The final movie of the original four (and the final one in this set) came out in 1980.  Herbie Goes Bananas is easily the cheesiest entry.  This go around takes place south of the border as Jim's nephew and a friend try to get Herbie from Mexico to Brazil for a race.  They are going by cruise ship, but they don't count on the young pick pocket who stows away in Herbie's trunk or the gold smugglers he's made mad.  Before it's over, Herbie will use bananas as weapons and become a matador.  Cloris Leahman gets into act here as a woman caught up in the events.

As I said, this one is definitely cheesy.  But it is also the one I watched the most as a kid, and I just can't look at it objectively.  The plot moves along well, and there are still plenty of laughs involved as the cast deal with a car that misbehaves.

This set was released in 2004, so there is no mention of the then unreleased Herbie: Fully Loaded.  The four movies were released individually as well, and this set is really just those four movies in a cardboard case.  There are no extra bonus features, so if you only want certain movies, you aren't missing anything by only getting this disc.

The Love Bug is a two disc special edition, and it contains all the bonus features here.  Disc one has the movie in wide screen and full surround and an audio commentary by stars Dean Jones, Buddy Hackett, and Michele Lee.  Disc two contains all kinds of behind the scenes information on the making of this movie and promotional stuff from the original release.  It's fascinating stuff.  There are a couple of documentaries that talk about all four of these films, so you aren't missing too much by not getting bonus material with them.  Of the other three movies, Herbie Rides Again is also in wide screen, while the other two are cropped full frame.  The sound on all three is full surround, however.

If you just want one or two of these films, get them individually.  But if you love all four of them like I do, Herbie: The Love Bug Collection is absolutely the way to go.