THE WACPINE OF ‘HERBIE FULLY LOADED’


WRITING: 2
ATMOSPHERE: 1
CHARACTERS: 2
PRODUCTION: 4
INTRIGUE: 1
NOVELTY: 2
ENJOYMENT: 2

This 2005 sequel/reboot is a lukewarm attempt to bring an iconic franchise back for new audiences to enjoy. The plot is silly and nonsensical, with very little material to warrant much acting from the leads. There’s no real message to deliver either and most story elements don’t help further the plot. There are several race sequences, but they all just repeat themselves. The script also fails to develop the relationships between the central characters satisfyingly.

Most jokes are too over-the-top to land and the overuse of Herbie gags turns dry quickly. That being said, there are some good jokes here as well. The bad acting ruins the few dramatic moments, mostly those featuring Lohan and Keaton. This movie doesn’t even try to take itself and its plot seriously, and that ruins any possible emotional impact the script could potentially present.

Horrible overacting from most of the cast, including Michael Keaton in one of his worst performances. He’s clearly in for the money, and nothing else. Lindsay Lohan feels oddly misplaced; even if this is just the kind of movie, she did back then. Lohan has never been much of an actress, but this is a career-low performance. I have never seen less soulless screaming in a movie. Everybody is just plain bad here, to be fair. Matt Dillon is probably the best of the lot, playing just the kind of character he does best.

This film contains some gravity-defying stunts realized with the help of some clunky CGI. The music is too loud most of the time and oftentimes completely wrong for the scene; it stands out like a sore thumb. Cheesy use of pop music hits in strategic moments doesn’t make things better.

Lindsay Lohan cannot save this feature, not even a talented actor like Michael Keaton. Herbie is a classic Disney character, but even his presence doesn’t make this film any better. It’s childish and shallow and most of the time awkwardly dated.

Herbie Fully Loaded isn’t fresh enough to work as a reintroduction of a classic franchise. It was dated already when it first premiered 15 years ago and it has not aged well. It’s such a typical Lindsay Lohan-film that one does hardly even realize that it’ supposed to be a Herbie-film.

This film started okay and has some cute and funny moments and a somewhat satisfying conclusion, but it’s too over-the-top, too childish and too stupid to work as a serious movie for adult audiences or fans of Herbie.


WACPINE RATING: 2,0 / 10 = 1 star

Really good watch, would watch again, and can recommend.

It's fun to see a callback to a movie like Herbie, and this certainly leans into it. This is also basically the last movie where Lindsay Lohan is still looks good on screen, or at least cute. Lohan and Herbie pretty much carry the movie despite some good supporting parts by the rest of the cast.

While I'm used to seeing Justin Long playing a support role, and Matt Dillon is the "villain", it is a bit odd to see Michael Keaton play such a small, if appropriate, role.

The unbelievability of Herbie being a racecar and the crazy amount of effort that is put into making Herbie a real character should be a downside of the movie, but it makes it remarkably charming in the best of ways.