After 6 years in retirement, Herbie revs his engines once again and rides into the cinema, in a film not titled ‘The Love Bug 2’, but ‘Herbie Rides Again.’ The same wacky unbelievable antics that made ‘The Love Bug’, a fun ride are again here in HRA. Gone are Dean Jones and Buddy Hacket but directing once again is Disney Director Maverick Robert Stevenson. A short and satisfactory answer is given as to the whereabouts of the first films characters and suitable replacements are given in their place, most notably Ken Berry in the leading role with the wonderful alluring Disney type name of Willoughby Whitfield.
For the villain they borrowed Alonzo Hawk (A.K.A. Keenan Wynn) from the Absent Minded Professor to be the adversary of Herbie and his care taker Gradma Stenmetz. I wonder why Disney didn’t do more crossover movies. The movie is pure magic and pure fun with wild chase scenes on the Golden Gate Bridge, outside an office building, inside a room full of soap suds and a daring mob of Love Bugs descending on the villain in the final showdown.
The Bugs terrorize Hawk in real life and in a crazy dream sequence where hungry Herbies with big teeth chase Alonzo around a field and buzz around a King Kong size version of him on the Empire State Building.
Herbie also manages to match another couple.
This is Disney filmmaking at its finest. Fun and worth a ride and maybe a stay in your garage.
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