Delayed Reaction: The Love Bug

Premise: A failed race car driver has renewed success when he's taken in by an anthropomorphic Volkswagen bug.

 

When I look back on Disney's film history, I'm never sure if I should be impressed or ashamed. On the one hand, so many of the animated films are classics. There are a few live-action movies like Mary Poppins and The Parent Trap that deserve their long-life. Frankly, I respect how willing the studio was to try absurd ideas. There's no reason why a Flubber, The Love Bug, or Honey, I Shrunk the Kids should work, but they do. On the other hand, there is so much crap in that film catalog. Take a look through the Disney+ film list from 1950 to 1990ish. And that's just the stuff they aren't too ashamed of. Had the studio died in the early 80s, I don't think anyone would look back now and believed it was underserved. I like to go back and watch some of these 60s and 70s movies, even the successful ones, to appreciate just how incredible it is that they came back to dominate the film industry now.

 

The Love Bug is cute. It's very silly. It doesn't make a ton of sense. It's somehow too long despite being a fairly brief 108 minutes. But it's cute. Dean Jones and Michele Lee are invisible leads who look enough like Steve McQueen and Mary Tyler Moore if you squint, that I could pretend it was them. David Tomlinson and Buddy Hackett are nice bits of flavor. I get why this movie could be a hit for Disney. Like, I don't think it's undeniable that The Love Bug would be a hit. Rather, if Disney makes 10 movies with a 10% chance of connecting with audience for some reason, then I'd expect one movie would be a hit. The Love Bug is that one movie.

 

The thing I loved about this movie was the hippies. The movie was made in 1968 and set in San Francisco (although shot in other parts of California, I believe). This is a product from the epicenter of the hippies and the Summer of Love. The square Disney interpretation of hippies is far out. It's like mid-80s commercials trying to include rap or 90s shows trying to understand grunge. Contemporary misunderstanding of trends is delightful and fascinating. Like, this is what Disney took away from the counter-culture movement at the time. And it's hilarious.

 

Like many Disney movies from this era, I rolled my eyes throughout The Love Bug, but I didn't hate it.

 

Verdict: Weakly Don't Recommend