The Goonies (1985) Review

 

The Goonies (1985)

The Goonies follows Mikey and his group of friends, the Goonies, who after finding a centuries old key, go off in search of the hidden treasure of One-Eyed Willy. 

All the referencing it this week, how could I not watch this? In terms of being the one that really set the mold for how teen adventure and mystery movies would come to follow, Goonies definitely wasn’t the first but they sure did it the best. I admit, watching this film as an adult, I view it through a set of rose tinted glasses. I’m not entirely sure if today’s youth would view or relate to it the same way as I did, and so many others of the time, but even still all these later, the effect remains the same. Hearing that intriguingly mysterious score, seeing the close escapes, the laughs, the magic of One-Eyed Willy, and of course, the Goonies themselves. They were like your friends, identifying with and falling in love with their unique quirks and personalities was what I always loved, and yearned for, and why, as an adult, my friends and family still quote them and 'become' them when talking about the film.

The pairing of Spielberg and Donner is magical, as it mixes the whole adventure type of Indiana Jones movies with Donner’s fast paced and elaborate style, that feels like a hilariously extravagant take on the Hardy Boys and Treasure Island. It’s scale, characters, and one hell of script are like the perfect storm with his pacing because every joke and scene lasts long enough to be memorable without taking away as a whole and keeping the extended journey consistently fresh despite relying on dialogue and acting alone, a tall order to place on a group of kids. 

This classic is loaded with such an amazing cast, starring Martha Plimpton, Robert Davi, Joe Pantoliano, Anne Ramsey, John Matuszak, Kerri Green, Jeff Cohen, Ke Huy Quan, Corey Feldman, Josh Brolin, and Sean Astin. It’s so hard to pull out just a few performances here because they are all so nuanced and perfect, that choosing just a few is tough. The Goonies as a whole-Astin, Feldman, Quan, Cohen—are what truly makes this movie because they are kids, beings kids, each with their own unique traits and adventurous qualities that makes them feel so real. The Fratellis, played by Pantoliano, Matuszak, and Ramsey are also wonderfully terrifying, genuinely scaring me as a kid (Ramsey is still frightening). 

The Goonies, directed by Richard Donner, is a wonderful exploration of childhood friendships and imaginations that, to this day, still spurns the same wonder and amazement in me as it did when I was a misty-eyed kid watching it for the first time. 

8.9/10