Sunday, September 5, 2010

A Fun Review Of The Goonies

By Christie Boyle

If you remember the eighties, then you certainly remember The Goonies. This movie was a classic. On the other hand, if you still haven't seen it for some crazy reason... Think Pirates of the Caribbean meets Stand By Me meets Indiana Jones meets The Sopranos meets... Well, it's a whole lot of different movies all wrapped into one, really. It's primarily an adventure flick, but it makes a lot of stops along the way, and stands as one of the all time classic kids movie downloads.

The movie follows, who else, The Goonies. This gang of misfits, led by Mikey Walsh, is known around the city of Astoria, Oregon for always getting into some sort of trouble. The story really kicks off when the rich folks in town decide to buy up the neighborhood to convert it into a golf course. The city of Astoria is really gorgeous, and it's too bad that it only features prominently in the first act of the film before it gets into the cave-dwelling adventure stuff.

The Goonies take it upon themselves to save the Boon Docks. They start by getting into the attic, where Mike's dad, a museum curator, has a bunch of old pirate stuff stashed. They find a treasure map leading them to an old restaurant on the coast. The restaurant is run by the Fratellis, a low rent crime family led by Ma Fratelli, a serious ball buster who takes a sort of Bates Motel approach to mothering her children, played by Robert Davi and Joe Pantoliano. They have to figure out how to get under the restaurant to get the treasure without alerting the Fratellis and...

It sounds like a lot of information to take in all at once: Pirates, the mafia, buried treasure, foreclosures... But if you just stay along for the ride, you don't have to worry about keeping track of all that. Just enjoy it for what it is, a fast paced, action filled adventure romp through caves and crypts, culminating in a showdown on an underground pirate ship.

The movie is really a lot of fun. What makes it work is that it's shot in a fairly matter of fact style. It doesn't feel like a fantasy film, really. It feels just as real as Stand By Me or any other coming of age film. The fact that it has pirate ships and all kinds of crazy stuff like that, well, that's sort of just the background of the movie.

When the movie first came out, it was actually considered to be just a bit TOO wild and fast paced. Times have changed, and with the manic pace and constant chase scenes of modern family films, The Goonies feels downright laid back in comparison.

But in any event, it's one of the all time great eighties flicks, as it well should be, having been produced by Spielberg and directed by Richard Donner. The style, the fashion, the music, it all adds up to a movie that couldn't have been made in any other decade.

But it really is a classic in its own right. If you haven't seen it in awhile, watch it again. Any child of the eighties should have a copy on their hard drive ready to watch at the drop of a hat. You'll need it for when you have kids of your own and you want them to know how good movies used to be back when you were a kid!

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