Search - Herbie Goes Bananas on DVD

Herbie's last film fizzles out......

Byron Kolln | 06/14/2000

(3 out of 5 stars)

"In this last installment of the Love Bug series Pete Stancheck, the nephew of Jim Douglas, and his friend D.J., make a trip down to Central America to pick up Douglas' VW. The movie's plot basically gets boring after this, as the two travel by boat to Rio to enter a race. Charles Martin Smith makes a humorous cameo, but by the end of the movie, you're half asleep......"

The End Of The Road

ianphillips@uk.dreamcast.com | BOLTON, LANCASHIRE, ENGLAND | 12/16/2002

(2 out of 5 stars)

"The fourth and final instalment of Walt Disneys Herbie and easily the worst and most forgetable. Though there are some beautiful shots of South America along the way this merley proceeds to make up for the holes in the plot. Whilst Herbie Goes Bananas certainly has a few bright spots, the film as a whole is a rather nondescript affair which sees Herbie the Volkswagen Beatle car, with a mind of its own, rubbing bumpers with a gang of smugglers on their way to Brazil. The stars in the film include Cloris Leachman as Aunt Louise, Charles Martin Smith as Dave Smith, John Vernon as Prindle and Stephan W Burns as Pete Stanchek. Strictly for die-hard fans of the series."

"It's a car, woman, not Lassie!"

Byron Kolln | the corner where Broadway meets Hollywood | 10/27/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The death knell was audible when Herbie took his final drive in the 1980 Disney comedy HERBIE GOES BANANAS - and you may very well start going bananas when you watch it! Although noted comedy stars Harvey Korman and Cloris Leachman manage to redeem their scenes together (and they are a complete joy), the rest of the production lets them down.

Jim Douglas's nephew Pete (Stephen W. Burns) and his co-driver D.J. (Charles Martin Smith) travel south of the border to claim ownership of Herbie, but get hijacked instead by junior con-artist Paco (Joaquin Garay III). The true title of this movie should have been "Herbie Gets Trashed", because he spends most of the film operating as a waterlogged, graffiti-riddled taxi. Cloris Leachman steals many a scene as dotty Aunt Louise, who harbours a yen for the handsome, worldly Captain Blythe (Harvey Korman).

The early 80s weren't the best period for Disney comedies in the first place, with the studio in the process of transitioning most of it's live action projects to the Disney Channel. HERBIE GOES BANANAS earned solid business during it's theatrical run and has a sizable cult following if anything. Strictly for completists."

A sour ending to one of the greatest movie cars

Benjamin Foti | 04/20/2009

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This is definitely a movie the Herbie franchise could've easily done without. I think t's got probably some the worst writing and out of all the sequels. Also, I think one of the major turnoffs is that they tried to place the kid Paco in a lead adult-type role, though I'm sure Disney thought it was "cute". The kid was just this annoying pickpocket that turned all the other characters against him, so I felt the movie was filled with conflicts between him and them, and less centered on Herbie. Since some of the main characters mention that Herbie was supposed race in the Brazil Grand Primio, the last Herbie movie should have been centered on this event, which I think would have been a strong finish to the films instead of all the meaningless nonsense that occured throughout this movie. The one high point are the great performances of Harvey Korman, Cloris Leachman and Charles Martin Smith, whose talents were unfortunately wasted in this movie. I liked all other Herbie movies (heck, I even like the recent Linsay Lohan movie somewhat ). Don't waste your time on this movie."