They call themselves "The Goonies." The secret caves. The old lighthouse. The lost map. The treacherous traps. The hidden treasure. And Sloth... Join the adventure.
"This is our time" declares Mikey, the earnest and asthmatic leader of The Goonies, four boys who inhabit the "Goondocks". Inspired by a pirate legend and an ancient map, Mikey, Mouth, Data, and Chunk go in search of the treasure which could save their parents' homes from being bulldozed by evil developers.
The Goonies was absolute catnip to 12-year-old boys in 1985. The treasure-seeking, the mechanical gadgetry, the foolhardy flirting with danger and ghoulishness, the casual cruelty, the boundless raucous energy - all capture the explosive force and exploratory zeal of adolescence.
Mouth speaks Spanish, not only enabling him to read the all-important pirate map but also execute one of the film's more successful gags as he mischievously mistranslates instructions to a Mexican homehelp: "socks in the top drawer, underwear in the bottom" becomes "the marijuana goes in the top drawer .... always separate the drugs."
There are other comic ideas which work, such as the villains' attempted interrogation of Chunk. "Tell us everything, kid!" is all too literally interpreted by the boy, who pours forth all the misdemeanours of his life to their appalled fascination. But too often the humour does not rise above routine pratfalls, which the makers mistake for hilarious slapstick. The heroes of writers Spielberg and Columbus were clearly not the comics of the silent era.
It is not only the appearance of Jonathan Ke Quan which makes one think that this is a junior version of the second Indiana Jones film. The quest, with its treacherous tunnels, secret doorways, booby traps, bats, skeletons, and the rest suggest Harrison Ford is around every corner. If only Temple of Doom had had the odd exploding toilet.
For fans the years will not have diminished the pleasure; others may find themselves tuning out as the kids screech, scream, and squabble to their hearts' content. A little can go a long way - and in the case of Chunk a little goes quite far enough: one longs for the baddies to stick the excruciating brat in a blender. He even teams up with a pug-ugly character called Sloth, the film's outsize outsider who exists somewhere between comic-book monster and tasteless portrayal of disability.
The disc includes deleted scenes, a couple of which actually contribute to the narrative. The commentary, recorded 16 years later, has considerable curiosity value as it re-unites all the Goonies and director Donner and occasionally shows them in-vision, allowing us to see how everyone turned out. It is, however, marred by the sheer rowdiness of the guests and the fact that two of the mikes clearly do not work, causing a couple of Goonies to sound as though they are in the corridor.
It's been around a while now - the child actors are now adults, (Sean Austin - Lord of the Rings) but it a funny adventure, a bit like National Treasure for kids. It does carry a 12 rating and probably deserves it - but it is surprising how many people have not seen it. A great bargain from many retailers even if you only watch it once.
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Please note this is a region 2 DVD and will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play A thrill-a-minute adventure film produced by Steven Spielberg!When brothers Mikey and Brand learn that greedy developers are forcing their family to move they and their friends decide to have one last precious adventure together With the help of a treasure map they&39;ve found in the attic the group known as the Goonies go in search of buried gold hoping against hope that if they find it Mikey and Brand will succeed in keeping their home Actors Jeff Cohen Corey Feldman Kerri Green Martha Plimpton Jonathan Ke QuanDirectors Richard Donner Steven SpielbergWriters Chris ColumbusProducers Richard Donner Steven Spielberg Frank Marshall Harvey Bernhard Kathleen KennedyLanguage Italian English FrenchSubtitles English French Italian Dutch Arabic Spanish Portuguese German Romanian BulgarianDubbed Italian FrenchSubtitles For The Hearing Impaired English ItalianNumber of discs 1
The Goonies are a bunch of misfit kids who take on some greedy property developers and try to save their neighbourbood by finding the lost treasure map of a 17th century pirate.
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