Universally touching

herbie: fully loaded

Director: Angela Robinson
Cast: Lindsay Lohan, Michael Keaton, Matt Dillon, Breckin Meyer, Justin Long, Cheryl Hines

6.5/10

Good old Herbie’s looks and speed might not impress a generation attuned to Ferrari and Formula 1, but the legend of the 1962 Volkswagen Beetle with a big personality under its small bonnet definitely hasn’t run out of gas.

Herbie:Fully Loaded is the fourth sequel to the original Disney classic, and considering 25 years have elapsed between the last two, the new film comes loaded with computer graphics to ensure that car number 53 keeps pace with the sleek, modern machines on the race track.

Herbie’s latest owner is teen starlet Lindsay Lohan, playing the daughter of an over-the-hill driver (Michael Keaton) trying to keep the family’s NASCAR racing tradition alive through his struggling son. Lindsay’s character, Maggie Peyton, hesitantly resurrects Herbie from a scrapyard when her father offers her $75 as a graduation present. The grateful Beetle immediately shows Lindsay what he ? yes, the Bug is supposed to be a male of the species ? is made of. Depending on his mood ? yes, he has a mind, too ? Herbie winks, sighs, quivers and growls.

To some, this could all appear to be juvenile stuff worthy only of a pre-teen audience. The innocence of Herbie:Fully Loaded is, however, capable of touching everyone. Herbie’s latest avataar could easily have been a snazzy one, but devoid of charm, and it is to director Angela Robinson’s credit that she maintains the spirit of the original. Walt Disney would have approved of this one.

Ritu Parna Dutta

Good, a little too late

lemony snickets

Director: Brad Silberling
Cast: Jim Carrey, Meryl Streep, Liam Aiken, Emily Browning, Kara Hoffman, Jude Law (as voice of Lemony Snicket)

5/10

What’s a pity really is that the best part, in this Brad Silberling’s cinematic encapsulation of the first three Daniel Handler books under the pen name of Lemony Snickets, begins when the film is nearly over and the beautifully animated credits start scrolling. Most people would have walked out, little realising that it’s almost a 10-minute long sequence, worth more than the film had been.

Many, of course, might have walked out right at the beginning, paying heed to Lemony’s warning that it’s not going to be a tale about happy elves, and those who do not like sinister, unpleasant tales should leave. And then through dark monochromatic visuals, which come alive quite dramatically in some sequences, Lemony narrates the story of the three recently orphaned children who, in search of a home, land up in charge of a series of quirky relatives. The adventures that follow are surrealistic, Roald Dahlish, though not quite there.

And not quite there, though he is everywhere in the film, outrageously reinvented in every sequence, is Jim Carrey, as the villainous Count Olaf. Goes over the top, something Meryl Streep, as the psycho phobic aunt Josephine Anwhistle, too does, but with more wit and charm. Hers is the most interesting act. The rest, inspirational enough to give Lemony’s invitation to leave a serious thought.

Deepali Singh

Leaves you quite cold

Barsaat

Director: Suneel Darshan
Cast: Bobby Deol, Bipasha Basu, Priyanka Chopra, Shakti Kapoor

3/10

Who’s hotter ? Bips or Pri Chops? Watch this movie only for the answer to this one or, better still, ask Bobby Deol.

Back in a film with the same name as his 1995 debut, this time with two beauties on either arm to shore up his fortunes, Bobby seems as fresh as ever. And as lost. A cloudy script where the skies (and tear ducts) open up every now and then does little to help a confused Bobby, but the two rain-drenched damsels keep Barsaat from drowning Mumbai ishtyle.

The rain? Ah! Of that there’s aplenty. A gentle drizzle, now a sublime shower, a sudden passionate burst and then, without warning, an in-your-face downpour. Makes you feel excited at first, but cold later. Quite cold. Despite the hot babes.

Pri Chops is perfectly at ease in her second film with Suneel Darshan (who produced her debut Andaaz) and, along with a better-by-the-day Bipasha, keeps this sublime love story of rain and rain and rain from being a complete washout.

Quite a tough job, playing ‘who-gets-the-groom’ in an open-air mandap in the barsaat.

Sonali Chakraborty