Herbie: Fully Loaded

Click to Buy	Ratings Summary (Scored out of a maximum of five)
	Audio		Video
	Goodies		Interface
	Value	1/2

The Movie

Herbie: Fully Loaded stars Lindsay Lohan as Maggie Peyton, an
aspiring race car driver who rescues Herbie from the junkyard. Maggie
doesn’t watch old Disney movies, so she doesn’t realize Number 53 has
a mind of his own. Although her dad (Michael Keaton) forbids her to race,
Maggie puts Herbie through his paces on the road to becoming a NASCAR
competitor when challenged by a nationally known race car driver Trip
Murphy (Matt Dillon.) With the help of her mechanic/love interest (Justin
Long,) brother (Brekin Meyer) and Herbie, Maggie sets out to achieve her
dream of competing on the NASCAR circuit. The film has many slapstick
moments and mainly appeals to younger kids who will enjoy Herbie“s
antics. A full review of the movie by Alex Stroup can be found here (link).

© Buena Vista Distribution.

The Goodies

I expected to see a retrospective on past Herbie films in the bonus features,
but no such luck. The earlier films are mentioned in passing with a few
short clips of Herbie in the previous films—mainly to illustrate
technical points rather than past stories. Instead of a retrospective,
I ended up being slightly more knowledgeable about NASCAR racing and what
makes Lindsay Lohan laugh and squeal. Since I knew zero about either topic,
I suppose the special features did their job adequately.

Deleted Scenes (11:47)

This is a good collection of scenes, complete with editing and sound,
that were cut from the finished movie. Most of the scenes are related
to Maggie’s brother and father. Director Angela Robinson does a nice job
of explaining why the scenes were cut from the film, giving essentially
a basic “film editing 101 for kids” course that is interesting and
informative.

Alternate Title Opening (3:26)

This clip is presented in storyboard form with background music and is
an attempt to play off the 1970s nostalgia with throwback illustrations
depicting Herbie in his heyday. The director mentions in the commentary
that test audiences wanted to see more of the old film clips leading up
to Herbie in his present state. I agree with the test audiences; the final
opening sequence is one of the best parts of the film.

© Buena Vista Distribution.

Bloopers

The bloopers section mainly consists of Lohan blowing her lines and squealing
as cast members tease her with plastic spiders and carry her around the
set. It would have been cuter and /or funnier 10 years ago.

Music and More

One music video barely qualifies under the title “Music and More”
but I won’t quibble. The skinny, blond version of Lohan sings “First”
accompanied by clips of the film. The song is not horrible, just not that
memorable.

Backstage Disney

A Day at the Races (13:54)

This section features interviews with Lohan, Matt Dillon, and other cast
members about their experiences learning to drive at the RicHard Petty
Driving Experience in preparation for their film roles. Deborah Renshaw,
one of the few female NASCAR drivers, gives a basic overview of stock
car racing and some personal insight about how she came to be a competitive
driver. It seems she was included in the DVD to give Maggie’s character
some credibility; regardless, she does a good job explaining racing terms
to younger viewers without talking down to them.

“Breaking the Rules: Stunts from Herbie: Fully Loaded” (9:05)

This section concentrates on the scene with Herbie at the Demolition
Derby and the more technical aspects involved in making the scenes more
realistic. Lots of technical talk that will appeal mainly to car buffs.

“Bringing Herbie to Life” (11:40)

Robinson wanted to keep the same look that Herbie had in previous movies
where computer generated stunts and visuals were almost non-existent.
She also wanted to keep Herbie’s look as genuine as possible, so for the
most part the car is operated by radio controls instead of having a computer
generated personality. How many radio controls does it take to make Herbie
roll his eyes? A lot more than you would ever expect.

Audio Commentary by Director Angela Robinson

One of the mysteries of Herbie: Fully Loaded is why Angela Robinson
was tapped to be the director, since her only other work as director was
in the small film D.E.B.S. in 2004. She never explains the mystery in
the commentary, but does relate how when she read the script, she thought
of Herbie’s story as sort of a “Seabiscuit with wheels.” That must
have been good enough for Disney. Mysteries aside, Robinson sounds like
she knows what she’s talking about, and keeps the commentary moving with
lots of anecdotes about the cast as well as more technical aspects of
filmmaking.

The Video, Audio and Interface

The main menu features an animated Herbie speeding across the screen
leaving behind the bright red, white, and blue stripes of his logo. It
blends perfectly with the rest of the DVD theming, and the titles and
directions are easy to navigate.

© Buena Vista Distribution.

Audio and Video

The movie is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and sounds crisp and clear.
The dialogue is not overwhelmed by the roar of the engines during the
many racing scenes, and the music used as background adds to the scenes
without taking center stage. The DVD is an extremely high quality transfer
presented in the original 1.85:1 widescreen theatrical aspect ratio and
looks incredibly bright and sharp.

The Final Evaluation

Compared to some of the bare bones DVDs released by Disney recently,
Herbie: Fully Loaded has some worthwhile extras, especially for
those interested in NASCAR racing, Lindsay Lohan, or some combination
of the two. People looking for a lot of nostalgia for the vintage Herbie
movies may be disappointed, but the majority of the audience for this
DVD will probably be kids who have never seen the original films and will
not mind.