Parents Television Council Reviews

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Herbie Fully Loaded
By Kimberly Sielen

Release Date: June 22, 2005
MPAA Rating: G
Starring: Lindsay Lohan, Michael Keaton, Matt Dillon, Breckin Meyer, Justin Long
Genre: Family Comedy & Adventure

After two decades, Herbie is back and ready for action. As the latest installment of the 1970's Disney classic series of movies, Herbie Fully Loaded, is the story of Herbie and his new owner Maggie Peyton (Lindsay Lohan). Long gone is Herbie's winning streak; he is about to be scrapped, but luckily is saved just in time by Maggie, a recent college graduate and inheritor of the Peyton racing gene. From the start, Maggie realizes that Herbie is special—he has feelings and the tendency to drive himself. Their first stop is to a local auto body shop run by Kevin (Justin Long), Maggie's childhood friend, for a tune up, where he has difficulty believing that Herbie drives himself. In an attempt to prove Kevin wrong, Herbie drives both him and Maggie to a local street race. This is much to Maggie's dismay, for she is forbidden to race by her father (Michael Keaton) when she almost died in a car accident years ago. Her appearance at this race stirs up many painful memories for her, but when she and Herbie make an enemy of Trip Murphy—the number one racecar driver in the country, it is back into the drivers' seat for Maggie. Trip challenges Herbie's driver to a street race, and when his top of the line racecar looses to the 1963 Beetle, he is upset to say the least. Therefore, in an attempt to regain his dignity, Trip organizes a two day match where the winning driver will race him, knowing that it will be another face-off between the two cars. This leads to a surprising upset, and Maggie's temporary loss of Herbie where he is sent to a demolition derby. Once she realizes that she cannot race without him, she quickly rescues him and they race in the NASCAR championship.

Herbie Fully Loaded contains very little objectionable material. There is a little violence, but it always involves the cars. Trip sideswipes Herbie more than once (no one is injured), and whenever Herbie is angry or upset he wreaks minor havoc such as squirting someone with oil or hitting them with his hubcaps. There are also two romantic subplots, the first involving Maggie and Kevin, and the other with Herbie and a New Beetle. These attractions are innocent; there is only one short kiss in the movie, plus a warning from Maggie's father for Herbie to not come home late from his date with the New Beetle. Also, in the beginning, Maggie lies to her father about racing Herbie. She tells him that Max, an imaginary person, borrowed Herbie and raced it, but he eventually finds out and she looses his trust. However, this is eventually resolved, giving the audience a positive message about the power of telling the truth. Overall the infringements are minor, making Herbie Fully Loaded appropriate for all children seven and up.

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