The third outing for the 'Love Bug' has the usual mix of caricature characters, slapstick and automotive anthropomorphism. This time as well as Herbie's owner's love interest, the car falls in love too, and they solve a diamond theft to boot.
The idea of sequels is that the punters get 'more of the same' but with a twist, and I guess that is (for good or ill) delivered here. So, if you liked the first two films you will probably like this one too.
Whilst key parts of the film do appear to have been shot in Paris and Monte Carlo respectively, much of the film was clearly shot in California. The racetrack sequences were (I think) shot at Laguna Seca and elsewhere the Sierras seem to double for the Alps etc.
Anthropomorphism of a car still seems weird to me. Weirder still is that the type of car is as liable to go down in history as being 'Herbie' as for being the world's most produced car, whilst it's origins ( a pet project of Nazis) are quietly forgotten/brushed under the carpet.
Yes, the 'lovable' bug/beetle was born as Hitler's "Kraft-durch-Freude-Wagen" which roughly translates as the "strength through joy -mobile". German citizens were encouraged to buy saving stamps every week which, once they had a full set, would be cashed in for a shiny new KdF-Wagen. Well, that was the idea... millions duly coughed up for the stamps in the late 1930s. It was in effect a scam; no-one (apart from a few Nazi high-ups) actually got a car, whilst the Volks themselves were robbed of their savings, probably to fund armaments...
Faced with a need for transport in the post-war British sector of Germany, a surviving pre-war beetle prototype was (literally) dug out of the rubble of the factory that had spent the war years producing the mechanically similar 'Kubelwagen' and (in no small part due to the efforts of the Britsh Army) production of a revised Beetle (with engine bearings not made of cheese etc) was started. After a short period of time control of the factory was handed over the local German government and the rest, as they say, is history. 20-odd million cars later they finally gave up making them.
Those who love these cars will no doubt think all this was a wonderful stroke of fate, whereas those who think that the these were horrible cars (and anyway should have been consigned to the dustbin of history because of their dubious origins) will wonder if perhaps the RAF/USAF bombers couldn't have done a better job, the British Army a slightly worse one, and thus spared us 20-odd million (plus various equally ghastly Porsche progeny) farty monstrosities all with their engines in the wrong place.
But I digress; if you liked the first two films you will probably like this one too. Kids will probably love it and adults will probably tolerate it, which is about as good a recommendation as you can give a Disney live-action film of this era.
The idea of sequels is that the punters get 'more of the same' but with a twist, and I guess that is (for good or ill) delivered here. So, if you liked the first two films you will probably like this one too.
Whilst key parts of the film do appear to have been shot in Paris and Monte Carlo respectively, much of the film was clearly shot in California. The racetrack sequences were (I think) shot at Laguna Seca and elsewhere the Sierras seem to double for the Alps etc.
Anthropomorphism of a car still seems weird to me. Weirder still is that the type of car is as liable to go down in history as being 'Herbie' as for being the world's most produced car, whilst it's origins ( a pet project of Nazis) are quietly forgotten/brushed under the carpet.
Yes, the 'lovable' bug/beetle was born as Hitler's "Kraft-durch-Freude-Wagen" which roughly translates as the "strength through joy -mobile". German citizens were encouraged to buy saving stamps every week which, once they had a full set, would be cashed in for a shiny new KdF-Wagen. Well, that was the idea... millions duly coughed up for the stamps in the late 1930s. It was in effect a scam; no-one (apart from a few Nazi high-ups) actually got a car, whilst the Volks themselves were robbed of their savings, probably to fund armaments...
Faced with a need for transport in the post-war British sector of Germany, a surviving pre-war beetle prototype was (literally) dug out of the rubble of the factory that had spent the war years producing the mechanically similar 'Kubelwagen' and (in no small part due to the efforts of the Britsh Army) production of a revised Beetle (with engine bearings not made of cheese etc) was started. After a short period of time control of the factory was handed over the local German government and the rest, as they say, is history. 20-odd million cars later they finally gave up making them.
Those who love these cars will no doubt think all this was a wonderful stroke of fate, whereas those who think that the these were horrible cars (and anyway should have been consigned to the dustbin of history because of their dubious origins) will wonder if perhaps the RAF/USAF bombers couldn't have done a better job, the British Army a slightly worse one, and thus spared us 20-odd million (plus various equally ghastly Porsche progeny) farty monstrosities all with their engines in the wrong place.
But I digress; if you liked the first two films you will probably like this one too. Kids will probably love it and adults will probably tolerate it, which is about as good a recommendation as you can give a Disney live-action film of this era.