The Goonies

"The Goonies"

Richard Donner, 1985

Steven Spielberg, who produced, wrote, and presented "The Goonies," often hearkens back to the cheesy, old-school adventure films that were prevalent during the 1940s. "The Goonies," a classic film from the 1980s that follows in the footsteps of the "Indiana Jones" series, is a continuation of the director's fascination with this genre.

We have the archetypal group of young friends, who call themselves "the Goonies." There is the unofficial leader of the group, Mikey (a very young Sean Astin, who went on to play Sam in the "Lord of the Rings" series), toting an inhaler for his asthma, who discovers an old map in his family's attic that tells of a long-lost treasure in secret caves underneath their very own town. There is his moody older brother, Brand (a very young Josh Brolin), his requisite love interest, Andy, the suave kid nicknamed "Mouth," the obese and talkative Jewish kid nicknamed "Chunk," and the nerdy, technologically proficient Asian kid nicknamed "Data," played by the same actor who played Short Round in the second "Indiana Jones" installment.

All of these characters, the dialogue they utter, and the environments that they inhabit, are caricatures that hearken back to those old adventure films. I enjoyed a number of the film's aspects, particularly the sets and lighting, which exude a fun, creepy atmosphere, and the appropriately over-theatrical nature of the characters' gestures.


However, this reliance on old-school nostalgia is a double-edged sword; the film is at once fun and irritating at the same time. All of the characters tend to scream over one another, a common occurrence in Spielberg films, which grows tiresome very quickly. There is one sequence, in particular, that feels unnecessarily mean-spirited: Mikey's mom tells Mouth to translate what she says for their new, Spanish-speaking housekeeper, but instead tells her things like "put the coke in the top drawer, weed in the second" or "if you don't do your work, you'll be locked up in the attic!" In response, the actress says lines like "Ay caramba! What a messed-up family." This sequence is representative of the film's ultimate issue; how to have fun with the silly premise without devolving into completely annoying and stupid fare.

Rating: 7

First Viewed: 6/25/08
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