Despite having been born in the 1980s, this movie was never really a part of my childhood. In fact, I only saw it for the first time within the last year. I was thoroughly engaged right from the start. Ostensibly an adventure movie for kids, the honest charm and cartoony good nature will hook all but the most cynical of adults. From the summer of 1985, Steven Spielberg presents a Richard Donner film: “The Goonies.”
The first thing that really stands out to me about this movie is that like so many others of its time and earlier, this would certainly come out of an MPAA review board with a higher rating now than it did then. If it were being made today, I suspect it would be quite different in an attempt to reach its intended audience of 8-10 year olds. That would be a shame, because the movie is pretty great as it is. The kids all swear a bit more than you could get away with in a “PG” movie these days, and Corey Feldman’s character of Mouth gets a bit racy. Even without all that, modern sensibilities might say that “scenes of peril” are too perilous and bump it up a notch. I think it’s a great kids’ movie, but know your kids before letting them see this one.
The basic plot is made up of standard cheesy melodrama and adventure elements. Rich jerks foreclosing to build a golf course, murderous crooks, pirate treasure... you know, the usual stuff. This has all been done many times before with varying degrees of success. It’s all in the details of the execution. What makes it work here is the effectiveness of the young children as point-of-view characters and the charm and sincerity with which they imbue their performances. The script and the actors really come together to make the audience see this world through the eyes of the kids. The dialogue is very much how I remember talking with my friends when we were that age, and each new obstacle the characters face is exactly like something we would have imagined in our games. The tone of the movie has very childlike earnestness and matter-of-fact qualities that make you believe in it. You can hardly do anything but trust it, and once that trust is established you won’t even want to question the more ridiculous elements.
It’s important to understand that this is a really hokey movie, full of pulpy characters with names like “Chester Copperpot” and “One-Eyed Willie,” and rife with cheesy Rube-Goldberg-style contraptions and booby traps. In another lesser movie, none of these things would likely elicit any reaction from the audience except groaning. But “The Goonies” has such a guileless chemistry that I just smiled and accepted them while excitedly waiting to see what happens next. Sean Astin as Mikey has a few heartfelt motivational speeches throughout the movie, the words of which tend to be just as cheesy as anything else in the movie. Much the same can be said of Data’s gadgets, Chunk’s nervous disposition and appetite, and Mouth’s aforementioned smart mouth. Perspective is key when selling this kind of thing, and the filmmakers here have done a marvelous job of putting the audience behind the eyes of children. The result is a synthesis of taking in each new thing both as seriously and as light-heartedly as would a child. All this to say that this movie probably shouldn’t work at all, but instead works almost completely.
Obviously, I loved the movie. Just as obviously, it isn’t perfect, since nothing is, but this comes pretty close. There are only two things that took me out of the movie a little bit. The first is that some of the visual effects haven’t aged well, particularly some composite shots here and there. I can hardly call that a fault as I am sure they were trying to make the best effects they could at the time, but it is worth mentioning. The second is that the villainous Fratellis seemed especially cartoony, even for bad guys in a kids’ adventure movie. Even this is a minor quibble on my part, as their antics are still entertaining and aren’t so overblown as to upset the overall tone of the movie.
So there it is: the first skeleton to be dragged out of my movie closet into the harsh light of day, and my take as a thirty-something adult watching “The Goonies” for the first time. I give the film an A+, and loved it so much that I bought a copy. I have also attempted to prepare myself for the inevitable shock, shaming, and ridicule that will be directed at me for not having seen this movie much sooner than I did. Leave your comments here on the site, on Facebook, on Instagram, or on Twitter.
Stay tuned for more of my endeavors to expand my cinematic cultural literacy, and remember: Goonies never say die.