# Love Bug, The (1997) (TV)

### reviewed by
Chris Meadows

    The Love Bug (1997)

    Review by Chris Meadows
    Review Rating: 6 out of 10

    Directed by Peyton Reed

Starring Bruce Campbell, Alexandra Wentworth, Mickey Dolenz, John Hannah

Nearly thirty years had passed since the original movie, _The Love Bug_. In 1997, the midst of an era of remakes of old favorites, Disney, never one to let a dead horse lie if it could possibly beat it a few more times, Disney decided to resurrect one of its past successes and send it once more around the stock car track.

The lead actor--aside from the car--is well-known wise-guy Bruce Campbell, the charismatic smart-alecky star best known for the _Evil Dead_ trilogy and a host of cameos and other roles (most notably Autolycus from the _Hercules_ & _Xena_ TV series and the Surgeon General from _Escape from L.A._) and the more recent _Jack of All Trades_ series. His reluctant girlfriend is _Jerry Maguire_'s Alexandra Wentworth, and the Buddy Hacket role is filled by ex-Monkee Mickey Dolenz. John Hannah rounds out the cast as the wealthy Scottish villain, and Dean Jones returns as Jim Douglas, Herbie's original driver.

The results are a mixed bag. The movie is more or less a formulaic remake of the original; there are a few additions and changes but the general course of the story and its ending should come as no surprise to fans of the original. And the original...did it better.

The older the studio gets, the more Disney seems to resort to stock (car) plots and hammy cliches. As maudlin as the original movie was at times, even it did not feel the need to stick in an "origin story" to explain _why_ Herbie was "alive," nor did it have to create an "evil twin" satanically-possessed VW. Some of the scenes made me groan and cry desperately for the succor of Joel and the 'bots.

The original _Love Bug_ was graced with the talents of Dean Jones, the incomparable Buddy Hackett, and David Tomlinson as the villainous Peter Thorndyke; the modern version fares less well, though Bruce Campbell does a fine job once he settles into the role and Mickey Dolenz is, if anything, even more believable than Buddy Hackett as the stereotype of the eccentric mechanic. And it is nice to see a _Love Bug_ sequel that reunites Dean Jones with the little car, even if only for a few minutes.

As for the car itself, Herbie is up to most of his usual tricks, this time with the aid of a little CGI. Strangely, there is no driving-on-water scene (save for a flashback clip at the start of the film), making this the first _Love Bug_ movie not to have what was formerly one of the hallmarks of the character. There are also very few actual racing scenes when compared with prior incarnations. (Presumably they didn't have the budget.) Combined with the "fade to black" scene transitions, it seems clear this movie was made with television in mind.

There really isn't much else to say about the modern _The Love Bug_. It's standard cliche-ridden Disney low-budget live-action fare, and there is nothing objectionable or unfit for younger audiences--unless you regard the Disney formula as objectionable in itself, which is possible.

    My rating: 6 out of 10.

A brief postscript: Strangely, this movie caused the macrovision on my RCA VCR to kick in, for _viewing_, not recording--the first commercial movie I've ever rented to do so. It says little for the quality of Disney's tape duplication service.

(This review is copyright 2000 by Christopher E. Meadows. Permission granted for Usenet distribution and associated archival, including the Internet Movie Database, but other distribution rights reserved to the author.) -- Chris Meadows aka | Co-moderator, rec.toys.transformers.moderated Robotech_Master | Homepage: http://www.eyrie.org/~robotech/> robotech@eyrie.org | PGP: http://www.eyrie.org/~robotech/rm.key.txt> robotech@jurai.net | ICQ UIN: 5477383 || Free DSL! Ask me how!

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