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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Forgettable or not, ‘Herbie’ does the job

About the third time I started writing this review of “Herbie: Fully Loaded,” I finally got the lead actress’s name correct.

Lindsay Lohan, I typed. Not Hilary Duff.

Now, really, I know the difference between these two teen movie stars. Lohan is 19 and red-haired. Duff is 17 and blond.

Duff is currently starring in “The Perfect Man.” It’s Lohan who stars in “Herbie.”

Which is only natural. “Herbie” is the Volkswagen Bug that has been a character in Disney films since 1969’s “The Love Bug.” Lohan is the teen-scene headline-maker who has been starring in Disney films since debuting in 1998’s “The Parent Trap.”

The two, Herbie and Duff … er, Lohan were destined to be together.

And the film that encompasses both is perfectly Disney: a G-rated film with all the right sensibilities that made Uncle Walt famous – love, loyalty, a slight tug-of-war between personal desires and doing the right thing.

Lohan stars as Maggie Peyton, the young child of former racing champ and now racing-team owner Ray Peyton Sr. (Michael Keaton). When his chief driver, Ray Peyton Jr. (Breckin Meyer) has an accident and can’t drive in the big race, Dad Peyton has to decide: Let Maggie drive or scratch.

Meanwhile, until this point, Maggie hasn’t been sure she even wants to race. Sure, she feels the need for speed, but an off-road-racing crash dampened her spirit, causing her to look for an alternative career. And, in fact, she’s only a month away from heading to New York and a potential career with ESPN.

But when Dad offers to buy her a car in a wrecking yard, she is ambushed by Herbie, the magical VW with a storied racing history (as several other films and a TV series can attest to) that no one now seems to remember. Anyway, Maggie ends up driving Herbie home – or rather he drives her.

But not before getting into a race with reigning racing champ Trip Murphy (Matt Dillon). Which Maggie wins.

Pretty soon, Maggie and Trip are racing again, this time for higher stakes. All of which sets us up for a finale that involves several questions: Will Maggie embrace Herbie? Will Dad finally realize that, no matter how much the two look alike, Maggie isn’t his dead wife? Will Herbie survive a demolition-derby showdown with a Monster Truck? Will adults stop yawning long enough to see how this all plays out?

OK, so that last crack is unfair. Some adults will enjoy “Herbie: Fully Loaded” as a bit of nostalgia. Others will appreciate the fact that Disney is still making G-rated films that emphasize basic moral choices while avoiding the worst kinds of traditional stereotypes.

Kids likely won’t care about any of this. They’ll just get into a film that has a cute ‘63 VW doing everything humanlike, from shooting oil into the face of the villain (rhymes with Dillon) to romancing a much younger VW.

If nothing else, they likely won’t have any trouble at all recognizing Duff … er, Lohan … or whoever the star-of-the-moment is. And even if they don’t, does it really matter?