HERBIE: FULLY LOADED

Say what you will, but I love me a good Lindsay Lohan Disney flick.

Oh, sure, she’s become the stuff of tabloid fodder of late, and is getting a little long-in-the-tooth to be playing the young heroine of a Mickey-stamped movie, but I’ll take ‘em while I can get ‘em…which might not be for that much longer. And while this one may not knock the cinematic ball out of the park, it makes for an entertaining ground-rule double.

In this latest installment of the misadventures of everyone’s favorite Volkswagen Beetle, the once-loved Herbie has disappeared from the public eye and is waiting to be crushed to death in a junkyard. Meanwhile, new college grad (?!) Maggie Peyton (Lohan) is anxious to free herself from the watchful eye of her race-car driver father (Michael Keaton) and the family’s stock-car legacy. Sort of. See, Maggie’s a bit of a behind-the-wheel prodigy, and even though everyone thinks she’s heading to the Big Apple to start her adult life, it’s not long before she “rescues” a persistent Herbie during a wrecking-yard visit, refurbishes him with the help of a high-school pal (Justin Long) and sets out to wipe the smug smile of victory off the face of arrogant pretty-boy racer Trip Murphy (Matt Dillon).

What transpires story-wise won’t really shock anyone who’s ever seen a Herbie movie before, as the little Bug that could proves his mettle (and metal!) once again to a legion of skeptical naysayers. Thankfully, the filmmakers opted to avoid the growing trend of digitally enhancing the car – which would have turned Herbie into a completely fake-looking shell of his former self – and instead used puppeteers to create his movements. This makes Herbie seem real, and the subtle effects work to great success. He’s lovable and huggable and charming…and he’s a car! Kudos for making that as convincing as it is.

The cast does a decent job with the material, and Dillon especially seems to be relishing his role as the bad guy, but no one’s exceptional. Lohan seems to be phoning it in, and Cheryl Hines has a thoroughly pointless role as (I think) some kind of race-team sponsor or Keaton’s love interest or both or neither. I was never really sure. Rumors of on-set discord between Lohan and director Angela Robinson surfaced during production, so I also kept a careful eye on the proceedings to see if any of that was evident onscreen. Save for a few unflattering shots that make Lohan seem unusually busty, I couldn’t find anything. Maybe that’s what DVD extras are for.

Herbie: Fully Loaded is a good, but not great, movie. It’s cute and innocuous and makes for a decent-enough summertime distraction. But if Disney decides to churn out another sequel, perhaps they should give Dakota Fanning a call.