oliverbellringer Review of Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo

Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1977)

the 2nd best in the series after the love bug

[6/10 · 2 March 2024]

As a child I always had a fascination with the Herbie series and whilst this may not have the same production standards of the love bug it is miles better compared to the disastrous Herbie rides again and the equally terrible Herbie goes bananas (which was also coincidentally directed by the man who made this film Vincent mc eveety), the plot mostly revolves around the fictional "trans France race" as well as a stolen diamond and a lancia monte carlo ( driven by the sometimes miserable Diane Darcy) who later becomes Herbie's love interest. Compared to many other films of the era the writing seems to hold up well although at times it does feel like a cliched "pink panther" style detective film. (especially given that. Jacques marin not only looks like clouseau but also seems to share some of his mannerisms), dean jones is excellent as ever in reprising his role as jim douglas and the two thieves (played by Roy Kinnear and Bernard fox) are equally brilliant. The same however cannot be said for the dimwitted.willie Applegate (played by the somewhat sexist don Knotts) and. Julie Sommars who plays Diane, she spends a good portion of the film either shouting at dean jones or throwing hotel china at him and whilst it's good that Disney introduced a strong wiled female character her acting seems a little over the top even for modern audiences. The visuals however make up for this and the opening sequence is probably one of the most memorable in any film showing off the scenery of France at it's best although for some reason (probably logistical reasons) the mountain scenes where filmed in California, all in all the film is not quite as good as the love bug but compared to it's immediate predecessor and successors it seems to hold it's own reasonably well it's just a shame that it wasn't the last in the series.