Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo

Buena Vista Distribution Company | Release Date: June 24, 1977

6.8	USER SCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 6 Ratings

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Kai82Nov 8, 2021

I am a huge fan of Herbie as the first 2 movies were childhood favorites. This one I do not like that much. I know it sounds hilarious to say this in a comedy movie about a VW Beetle that is alive but it is to silly and goofy especially atI am a huge fan of Herbie as the first 2 movies were childhood favorites. This one I do not like that much. I know it sounds hilarious to say this in a comedy movie about a VW Beetle that is alive but it is to silly and goofy especially at the start. The other movies hit the right spots and never make it this awkward. They build it up better and with more charm. To be fair it gets a lot better towards the end. On paper it has an amazing story and the characters work well enough to be enjoyable. The story brings back Jim Douglas from the first movie. Together with his mechanic Wheely Applegate and Herbie he travels to Europe to participate in a trans France race (Paris to Monte Carlo if I remember correctly). It is a comeback attempt as he had not participate in car races for years. Meanwhile there is an exhibition I a nearby museum. The famous diamond “Etoile de Joie” is displayed which caught the attention of thieves and Herbie will be involved by accident. This is not the only problem as Herbie will fall in love with a Lancia Scorpion driven by Diane Darcy. This is the set up for the movie. On paper it is an excellent story and it gets good towards the end. The beginning is a bit awkward and made me skip forward. It has not the right amount of fun and goofiness for the franchise. I put this on the script as the characters aka actors work really well. Lets start with Dean Jones as Jim Douglas who returns to the franchise. He is a bit weaker than in the first movie but is fine for me. As a sidenote: I am amazed that Herbie accepts him as in the second movie they said he abandoned Herbie and was unsuccessful at car races because of this. Back to the review. Don Knotts as Wheely Applegate is truly good but I miss Buddy Hackett as Tenessee Steinmetz too. Wished he returned but because of the good performance I cant complain. Then we have the two thieves Quincey and Max played by Roy Kinnear and Bernard Fox. I liked both characters as they are entertaining and work well together. This is also valid for Jaques Martin as Inspector Bouchet and his subordinate Detective Fontenoy played by Xavier Saint Marcary. Then we have Julie Sommars as Diane Darcy. I like her performance but her role is not that well written. The rest works fine and I will praise Eric Braeden who manage with small screen time to be an enjoyable bad rival for Jim and Herbie at the race. It is a good cast weakened by the script. The rest of the movie is fine. The racing scenes are good but as it was common at this time you see easily the use of special effects in the background in some scenes. Not a reason to rate it lower for me but fair to mention as other find this much harder to forgive. Overall this movie works well enough in the second half to avoid a lower rating. However the first half is weak and like I said I skipped forward a lot. The characters also safe this movie for me. I think a 5/10 is fair here. As a fan of the franchise I am a bit biased so take this with a warning. Others have given much lower ratings.… Expand

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