Having had a stop in San Francisco with cute old lady Helen Hayes, Herbie is back in the hands of his original driver Dean Jones and heads over the Monte Carlo where his presence gets automatic laughs because nobody sees a Volkswagen Bug as a proper race car. Those laughs come, to quote Monty Python, with outrageous accents, overdone here and totally over-the-top. The last come from the bystanders, not the audience, because while there are a few amusing moments, the film really isn't all that funny.

This time, Jones' partner is Don Knotts, having been appearing in a few Disney films over the years and a good sidekick. The leading lady is Julie Sommars, a familiar red-headed actress from the 70s known mainly for TV appearances, and just as fiery as Michele Lee from the first film and Stefanie Powers from the second. Also a race car driver, she goes on a tirade against Jones when the subject of what women can do is broached, slinging plates and glasses at him, and it's basically a repeat of stuff that the two previous heroines in the other films had already done. Predictably, she comes back to apologize afterwards more feminine and ladylike.

The comical villains here are Dr. Bombay, er Bernard Fox, and Roy Kinnear, both bumbling and insipid, trying to prevent both cars from winning at Monte Carlo. Yes, Herbie does has some very funny moments as he reacts to the efforts to stop him, and is aided by some fun race sequences and of course the location photography. Just a few years shy of becoming "the mustache" Victor Newman on "The Young and the Restless", Eric Braeden is another race car driving rival, but he doesn't come on until an hour into the movie. This feels very generic and silly, and when in the 1970's you could stay home and watch Disney on Sunday nights for free, why would you go to the movies and pay to see it?

Love Bug's third entry in which Herbie is racing in the Monte Carlo Rally , it is full of pranks and car stunts that are great fun to see . Agreeable Disney's love bug Wolkswagen plenty of action , slapstick , laughs and fun . This hilarious Herbie story concerns about The Love Bug falls 'hood-over-wheels' for a classy chassis! Herbie, the Volkswagen Beetle with a mind of its own undertakes the famous international car race but encountering all sorts of comical obstacles along the way . Unbeknownst to Herbie's driver thieves (Ron Kinnear, Bernard Fox) have hidden a cache of stolen diamond in the gas tank . So the thieves resort to all manner of traps , legal or otherwise, to get it and are now attempting to get them back . There is one obstacle however : Herbie and a French Police Inspector (Jacques Marin) is investigating the robbing . Fortunately, the couple of pilots (Dean Jones, Don Knotts) have a sleeve in the form of Herbie , the fantastic car , as they takes the magical Wolkswagen Bug with a mind of its own . The VW falls in love with a sports car, a Lancia , as both of them compete in the notorious race . Miraculous Herbie take them for a ride and stumbles into evil hoodlums who pursue through roads , highways and race tracks . As always, Herbie the love bug , is helping the young couple (Dean Jones ,Julie Sommars) find romance but encountering all sorts of hilarious problems along the way . Meanwhile Herbie with the number 53 intervenes in the biggest race cars from Paris to Monte Carlo and win the Grand Prize , a challenge among top competitors circle the world's most famous racing circuits and quickly slipping in the ranking.

This ordinary Disney slapdash film displays great loads of amusement , fun , giggles , race cars and is pretty entertaining . It's an enjoyable movie for kids and for those who enjoy cars racing round and round and bounds and leaps by Herbie . The actors seem to enjoy immensely , as Dean Jones and Don Knotts play of sympathetic manner and the mean-spirited villains performed by Ron Kinnear , Bernard Fox and Jacques Marin are top notch . Brief appearance as sympathetic waiter by Gerard Jugnot subsequently prestigious player in the successful ¨The choir boys ¨. Colorful cinematography by Leonard South and jolly soundtrack by Frank De Vol including the lively leitmotif , usual in the Herbie's series. This is a delightful film , the original film turns out to be : ¨The love bug¨ (1969) by Robert Stevenson with Dean Jones, Michele Lee and Buddy Hackett , followed by ¨ Herbie rides again (1974)¨ also by Robert Stevenson and starred by Ken Berry , Stefanie Powers and Helen Hayes ; it's followed by ¨Herbie goes to Montecarlo¨ and ¨Herbie goes bananas¨ (1980 , or Herbie Torero) by Vincent McEveety starred by Charles Martin Smith and Cloris Leachman , among others and a 1997-for-television-movie and a TV series , the most part filmed by Stevenson and Vincent McEveety and usually starred by Dean Jones . Furthermore recent version starred by Linsay Lohan , Justin Long and Matt Dillon , being directed by Angela Robinson. This " Herbie goes to Monte Carlo¨ version is amusing and with lots of laughs but is a familiar film . The motion picture is correctly directed by Vincent McEveety . Worthwhile seeing , typical Disney slapstick ,it's a great fun to watch and there are loads of entertainment in this one . It' one of the best and funniest of ¨Herbie¨ series .

The third outing for the 'Love Bug' has the usual mix of caricature characters, slapstick and automotive anthropomorphism. This time as well as Herbie's owner's love interest, the car falls in love too, and they solve a diamond theft to boot.

The idea of sequels is that the punters get 'more of the same' but with a twist, and I guess that is (for good or ill) delivered here. So, if you liked the first two films you will probably like this one too.

Whilst key parts of the film do appear to have been shot in Paris and Monte Carlo respectively, much of the film was clearly shot in California. The racetrack sequences were (I think) shot at Laguna Seca and elsewhere the Sierras seem to double for the Alps etc.

Anthropomorphism of a car still seems weird to me. Weirder still is that the type of car is as liable to go down in history as being 'Herbie' as for being the world's most produced car, whilst it's origins ( a pet project of Nazis) are quietly forgotten/brushed under the carpet.

Yes, the 'lovable' bug/beetle was born as Hitler's "Kraft-durch-Freude-Wagen" which roughly translates as the "strength through joy -mobile". German citizens were encouraged to buy saving stamps every week which, once they had a full set, would be cashed in for a shiny new KdF-Wagen. Well, that was the idea... millions duly coughed up for the stamps in the late 1930s. It was in effect a scam; no-one (apart from a few Nazi high-ups) actually got a car, whilst the Volks themselves were robbed of their savings, probably to fund armaments...

Faced with a need for transport in the post-war British sector of Germany, a surviving pre-war beetle prototype was (literally) dug out of the rubble of the factory that had spent the war years producing the mechanically similar 'Kubelwagen' and (in no small part due to the efforts of the Britsh Army) production of a revised Beetle (with engine bearings not made of cheese etc) was started. After a short period of time control of the factory was handed over the local German government and the rest, as they say, is history. 20-odd million cars later they finally gave up making them.

Those who love these cars will no doubt think all this was a wonderful stroke of fate, whereas those who think that the these were horrible cars (and anyway should have been consigned to the dustbin of history because of their dubious origins) will wonder if perhaps the RAF/USAF bombers couldn't have done a better job, the British Army a slightly worse one, and thus spared us 20-odd million (plus various equally ghastly Porsche progeny) farty monstrosities all with their engines in the wrong place.

But I digress; if you liked the first two films you will probably like this one too. Kids will probably love it and adults will probably tolerate it, which is about as good a recommendation as you can give a Disney live-action film of this era.