Herbie: Fully Loaded

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Just like the can-do VW Beetle of the title, Herbie: Fully Loaded succeeds adorably despite the obstacles in its path.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

For those newbies, this update, starring peppery Disney re-do queen Lindsay Lohan as wannabe car racer Maggie Peyton, is as serviceable an introduction as any to the notion of a sentient set of wheels.

Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall

Matt Dillon almost runs away with the movie as a preening, conniving NASCAR champ who may be dumber than a box of rocks but realizes there's something up with the VW.

Variety Joe Leydon

A pleasingly retro recycling of "The Love Bug."

The New York Times Stephen Holden

A perfectly silly movie for a silly season that in recent years has forgotten how to be this silly. Directed by Angela Robinson, this latest installment in the movie-television franchise about a tiny car named Herbie with a will of its own and the temperament of a rambunctious 7-year-old knows exactly what it is and what it isn't.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

It may be by-the-numbers, but it knows that under the right circumstances those numbers can lead to a fair amount of fun.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

The exception is Matt Dillon, who goes all-out to be arrogant and despicable. Indeed, building on his scary performance earlier this year in "Crash," he's shaping up to be quite the movie villain: definitely someone you love to hate.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The movie is pleasant but unspectacular, and at times it borders on being too cute.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Anyone who isn't charmed by the idea of a Beetle crossing the finish line first is either chronically churlish or isn't trying.

Philadelphia Inquirer David Hiltbrand

This remake is about half of a very likable film. But in movies (as in auto races) it isn't how you start, it's how you finish. And Herbie should have kept something in the tank for the late going.

Village Voice Nona Willis-Aronowitz

Its vibrating crowd scenes and splashy visuals will please the seven-to-12 set.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Utterly predictable, but pleasant enough for its young target audience.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Adds up to little more than a cynical marriage of marketable commodities -- Lohan, NASCAR and the durably profitable Bug himself.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

The acting is adequate, though Lohan looks more like someone who has just gotten out of high school than college.

USA Today Mike Clark

Though not much of a movie, Loaded probably will bring fleeting satisfaction to audiences who don't know Dean Jones from Spike Jones.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Blandly noisy and inoffensively average.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The movie is pretty cornball. Little kids would probably enjoy it, but their older brothers and sisters will be rolling their eyes, and their parents will be using their iPods.

Miami Herald Peter Debruge

One of the great pleasures of the original Love Bug comes in watching all the live-action stunts, and CG just isn't the same.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Though Lohan doesn't embarrass herself in a film in which she appears in virtually every frame, this tepid tribute to girl power hardly represents a step forward from Lohan's breakthrough roles in "Mean Girls" and the remake of Disney's "Freaky Friday.

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub

It's a kids' movie from a better time, with a few small concessions to modern audiences.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

Herbie: Fully Loaded is, pure and simple, a children's film.

TV Guide Angel Cohn

Only those who really love the Bug will be willing to put up with the loose plot and over-the-top action scenes.

Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar

The film is depressingly wholesome. In that respect, it accomplishes what it sets out to do, which is to distract the children of America from the horror of their eventual futures for a couple more hours.

Austin Chronicle Marrit Ingman

Sort of annoying, and it doesn't do what you want it to do, but you know, it's so scrappy and persistent that it seems kind of cute in spite of itself.

Empire Helen O'Hara

This strict adherence to formula is wearing for anyone over ten, but worse is Lohan.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

Herbie without the herb has never been my cup of tea.

Chicago Tribune Robert K. Elder

If "Mean Girls" was Lohan's debutante ball, "Herbie" sits her back at the kiddie table. She's matured, and no longer fits in the Disney mold.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

In reviving the beloved Disney property, Robinson attempts to resuscitate the fast-motion shots and sub-Three Stooges physical comedy of classic Herbie, but the new model seems distantly related to the innocent, peppy little car of old.

Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky

To damn Herbie: Fully Loaded as soporific crap, as lazy profiteering, as yet another needless and cynical remake in a season populated by such con artists, would be as pointless as the movie itself.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

For anyone old enough to cross the street without holding hands ... the movie's a reconditioned lemon trying hard to hide its flaws.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

Here, by its cooperation with the Disney factory, NASCAR says it's also warm 'n' cuddly, and that if you love your magic bug, it'll repay you with victory. Why does it allow itself to be co-opted by a story that diminishes the skills, experience and talent it takes to win?