By Ben Mills
Posted via 209.178.176.212 on January 14, 2005 at 12:03 AM (MST)
Statements below are the work of their authors and not necessarily the opinion of Theme Park Insider.
I’ve always hated Herbie. Or rather, I’ve always thought that I hated Herbie, but Disney seems intent on assuring me otherwise. Everyone loves the little Love Bug, right? Well, no. As you’re probably aware, to coincide with Disneyland’s 50th anniversary celebrations, Disney-MGM Studios in Walt Disney World will be opening a brand spanking new car stunt spectacular, the Lights, Motors, Action! extreme stunt show. Except, it contains very little of the “new”. And probably considerably less of the “spanking”. (Note the lack of a Lindsay Lohan related joke at the end of that sentence.) This is how it all ties back into Europe, friends. When you sit yourself down on a rather uncomfortable plastic bench come May 5th, ready to enjoy the newest attraction to the park, you won’t be watching anything particularly original. And by that, I’m not referring to the fact that LMA! is a straight clone of a popular Disneyland Resort Paris attraction. See, although Moteur…Action! happens to be the most visited attraction in the Walt Disney Studios, you’ve got to be aware of the context that this statement is made in. There’s next to nothing to do in WDSP, so even people who wouldn’t normally head to something like this see it just to fill up time. I don’t hate it, but I feel that many critics only give it such a good write up because after a day at the Studios, it’s very, very easy to forget what true Disney quality is. Let me put this an easy way. Okay, imagine you're spending a day at a coaster-heavy park, in the Cedar Point or Magic Mountain vein, on a real busy day. I'm talking four, five-hour queues. The rest of the park is ugly, as the park has chosen to put pretty much all of their time, money and creativity into the main attractions. The coasters you manage to actually get on give you a brief thrill, right? But somehow, it really doesn’t seem worth it when you’re stuck in the next marathon queue line. LMA! follows a similar formula. Yes, the set pieces are gorgeous, although nothing that would stand out in any Hollywood flick. But in between each scene (of which there are only three or four that stand out in my mind) guests are subjected to some of the most excruciatingly dull and pathetic “fillers” that serve no apparent purpose other than to allow the next large stage set to be put together. This is where my beloved Herbie comes in. In one such filler, a particularly uninspiring reel of movie clips showing Hollywood’s most famous cars is displayed on the large screen above the set, and we are introduced to Herbie! Hooray! Five minutes later, and the damn thing is still on the stage. The show’s presenters have attempted to talk to it, and they have even let a child from the audience sit inside. GIVE IT UP, PEOPLE! NO-ONE CARES! Other fillers include a hilarious “prank” involving a full size remote controlled car, and an insufferably tedious section about how movie clips are put together. You know that Jumbo-Cam thing you get in football stadiums, where audience members get a close-up? Well, they spend about five minutes playing around with that. Which, obviously, is tremendous fun. At a total time of over forty-five minutes, these sections really dampen the party spirit that the “hosts” of the show try so hard to instil, even when their source material is so hideously lame. Soon after, we come to the finale piece. Picture that scene that you'll undoubtedly have seen on the artwork. I've not paid much attention to the updates for this attraction, but I can guarantee that they'll be showing a red car flying over a mini-lake, with an explosion and a couple of fountains in the background, and probably a couple black cars to the side. You know what I mean? Well, that right there is the highlight of the show, and one of the few genuinely exciting sections. I’m sure this show will be nirvana for any motor fans out there, and the motorcycle tricks are quite cool, too. Heck, even I was laughing when the star is “accidentally” set on fire. But please, let’s not wet ourselves about this. Disney misses the ball far more than it hits it, but its few saving graces managed to make it look like a masterpiece in a park mostly filled with crud. Will it stand up so well in Disney-MGM Studios? Honestly, unless they’ve reworked it so it is shorter and more concise, I can’t see it happening. Unless you all happen to love Herbie, of course.
Readers' reviews:
Comments:
From Paul Jeffs
Posted via 194.201.85.173 on January 14, 2005 at 9:01 AM (MST)
I saw the Paris show in October and Herbie's appearance was kept to a minimum.
They show some clips, he appears tooting his horn, drives under the audience and then something fairly amusing happens. End of.Perhaps the need to have every "filler part" in both French and English kept the pace up and trimmed off the fat you may find in the WDW version. I understand that the WDW version has a Fastpass entrance (unlike Paris) - this is much needed as you had to queue at least 90mins in advance to have any hope of getting in. Have to say I thought it was great, although (like all shows) the repeat factor is low.
Be interesting to see if anything is done to periodically freshen it up as it’s now running on two continents…
From Ben Mills
Posted via 81.157.138.2 on January 14, 2005 at 9:39 AM (MST)
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that... I haven't seen Moteur...Action! for a couple years now, having got bored of it veeery soon, as you can probably guess. However, even in the couple months between the twice I saw it before, Disney had messed with the order. Although I'm very pleased to hear that Herbie's appearance has been cut down. I wonder how many of these changes will be kept for the American conversion?That's true about the dual-languges being a nuisance, too. Half the boredom comes from not having a clue what's going on.
From Matt E
Posted via 24.152.195.201 on January 14, 2005 at 3:37 PM (MST)
I think losing the language translations will help things moving a bit (unless they decide to do the Florida version in English and Spanish...lol ). I've only seen clips of the stunt show from a friend's video of it, but I thought it looked pretty cool. I'm excited to see it and think it will be a hit. On a side note, I don't know about the truth of this, but I had heard jet skis were used in the show originally were taken out after an accident at the Paris version but will be returning for the Florida version once again.
From Ben Mills
Posted via 81.157.138.2 on January 14, 2005 at 3:54 PM (MST)
Now you mention it, I do seem to recall jet-skis, but I might just be confused with similar stunt shows at other parks. If they were in and got removed due to saftey issues, I think it's unlikely that we'll see a return.To say that the show looked good from having seen a selection of clips is kinda silly, and proves my point exactly. I've never questioned the excitement of the set pieces, only what comes between. Much like how people tend to enjoy the Indy show's stunts but tire of the audience participation sections, the same could be thought of Moteur...Action! Nice stunts, shame about everything else.
From Matt E
Posted via 24.152.195.201 on January 14, 2005 at 4:49 PM (MST)
^^The jet skis are mentioned in all the press releases about the Florida show (although I suppose it could be an oversight).
From Ben Mills
Posted via 81.157.138.2 on January 14, 2005 at 5:00 PM (MST)
Nah, if that's what the press releases are saying then the jet-skis have probably been reworked. Not only is that good news for the MGM-Studios, but this could also herald their return in Paris, which would be pretty cool.
From kyle sussman
Posted via 67.163.22.43 on January 15, 2005 at 7:53 AM (MST)
Personally, I don't think it is such a big deal that it was copied from paris. Living in America I will most likely never see the attraction in paris, and besides WDW and DL are almost the same kind of park. So disney does copy a lot
From Joe Lane
Posted via 68.200.31.125 on January 15, 2005 at 10:17 PM (MST)
I would guess it's not so much Disney's cloning of attractions as it is the overall quality of recent attractions. In any case, expect a review once the Florida version opens... not that I doubt Ben, but I hope we've got something nicer to look forward to.
From Ben Mills
Posted via 81.157.143.187 on January 16, 2005 at 6:43 AM (MST)
Joe's right: it makes good business sense to clone attractions over the Atlantic, but my issue is that they chose this one, when Walt Disney Studios has two much better shows in Cinemagique and Animagique.Don't get me wrong, I'm sure you'll enjoy the show. But neither is it one of the better stunt shows that I've seen.
From Jesse Dominguez
Posted via 157.242.109.37 on January 20, 2005 at 7:55 PM (MST)
What have been the best stunt shows you guys have seen? For me, it would be waterworld.
From Ben Mills
Posted via 81.157.143.213 on January 22, 2005 at 4:24 PM (MST)
The stunt shows at Warner Bros Movie World Madrid are all enjoyable. The Parc Asterix one is also pretty good, with a fantastic ship-based set.Oh, and let's not forget Thorpe Park's Spiderman Stunt Show... quite phenomenal...
From Ben Mills
Posted via 81.157.139.139 on February 4, 2005 at 4:51 PM (MST)
Just a quick update: I suggest you all go and read Arthur Levine's take on this attraction over at About.comIt might make you feel better.
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