It's hard to deny the technical and general film-making flaws of this movie. "Money making cash in" is almost the perfect phrase for it, and the cheaper south American setting just makes it all the more tacky.
With all that being said I still like this movie, however it's pretty much for nostalgia reasons only. I used to adore the Herbie films as a boy in the early 1980s and this film was a regular video rental at the time. Even at just that I can easily watch and enjoy the movie just to soak up the memories.
Of course it's not awful to the point where it's it's excruciating. It's perfectly watchable and kids will probably love it, but it's cheesy beyond belief and some parts are so overly saccharine that it may make you puke. The acting is third tier and hammy at best and it's just one of those cheapo films made for the sake of being made. One also wonders just how heartless Jim Douglas became to just abandon his beloved and wondrous living car.
A plus point though is that Herbie is a lot more expressive in this film and we see him do a few new tricks tanks to some custom mechanics on the cars that were used to represent him.
To be fair, the film would have worked just as well without the boy Paco, and would have removed some of that aforementioned cringeworthy saccharine. However, I doubt I would have connected with it as much as a child had Paco not been in it so it's kind of a double edged sword.
It's a film that regularly comes back around on my watch list when I'm feeling nostalgic, and for me it's a good time, but if you are an adult and haven't seen it before then I seriously doubt that there will be any joy here at all.
I think children would still love it though, so it's a good option if you want peace for an hour or so.
With all that being said I still like this movie, however it's pretty much for nostalgia reasons only. I used to adore the Herbie films as a boy in the early 1980s and this film was a regular video rental at the time. Even at just that I can easily watch and enjoy the movie just to soak up the memories.
Of course it's not awful to the point where it's it's excruciating. It's perfectly watchable and kids will probably love it, but it's cheesy beyond belief and some parts are so overly saccharine that it may make you puke. The acting is third tier and hammy at best and it's just one of those cheapo films made for the sake of being made. One also wonders just how heartless Jim Douglas became to just abandon his beloved and wondrous living car.
A plus point though is that Herbie is a lot more expressive in this film and we see him do a few new tricks tanks to some custom mechanics on the cars that were used to represent him.
To be fair, the film would have worked just as well without the boy Paco, and would have removed some of that aforementioned cringeworthy saccharine. However, I doubt I would have connected with it as much as a child had Paco not been in it so it's kind of a double edged sword.
It's a film that regularly comes back around on my watch list when I'm feeling nostalgic, and for me it's a good time, but if you are an adult and haven't seen it before then I seriously doubt that there will be any joy here at all.
I think children would still love it though, so it's a good option if you want peace for an hour or so.