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The Goonies Click picture to order this DVD A Techtite Review
The story is simple enough, of a young boy nicknamed Mikey (Sean Astin), who finds an old pirate's treasure map in his parent's dusty attic. Given that he and all his friends are about to be thrown out of their homes by a greedy land developer, he coaxes his buddies to go with him to see if the map truly leads to the long lost treasure of "One Eyed Willy." If they could find enough riches, then their parents could pay off their debts and the land developer would never be a worry again. The quest is not easy, of course, which makes the film all the more fun. For starters, the old restaurant/bar --the starting point for the treasure map, and entrance to the underground passageways-- is currently occupied by a trio of clumsy criminals on the lam. These criminals are at first an obstacle for the kids, and later in hot pursuit, once they find out where they're going. Adding to the difficulty is the fact that, apparently, One Eyed Willy read a lot about Indiana Jones, and has a lot of amusing booby traps which even Indy may have some trouble dodging. The resulting story may not have depth to it, though certainly keeps your interest throughout its 114 minutes. You may ask: what's with the title? Well, apparently, "Goonies" is a term the locals use for the nerds, losers, and lame-o's that populate their small town. Personally, I think any jock who feels comfortable using a word like "Goonie" should be considered a geek himself, though there's a bigger problem with the term; these kids' nerdish behavior is so stereotypical, the "goonie" insult seems even more cartoonish in origin. Mikey's singular flaw only seems to be allergies. Then there's "Chunk" (Jeff Cohen), who eats a lot, "Mouth" (Corey Feldman), who talks a lot, and "Data" (Ke Huy Quan), who is the technology nerd of the group. Along for the ride is Mikey's big brother (Josh Brolin), the cheerleader who likes him (Kerri Green), and the glasses-wearing friend who tags along with her (Martha Plimpton). I guess this is as good of a time as any to admit one of this film's biggest flaws; the character development in this film is little to none. Regardless, as cartoonish fun, this film has its strengths. Each pirate's trap that the kids must decipher is ingenious and inspired. This is a film meant as an action-comedy, and in many scenes, it succeeds on both accounts. This is mostly thanks to an experienced filmmaker team, which includes Spielberg as an Executive Producer (as well as the writer of the story), Chris Columbus for the screenplay, and Richard Donner as the director. Of course, the young talent in the film deserve ballyhoos as well, since even without any major moments to develop their characters, they do surprisingly well with what they are given. The end result is a cult favorite to Generation X-ers, which has recently even inspired a planned sequel, set 16 years after the original film. That alone should tell you how much staying power this Spielberg film has. When looking at all the films in his "Amblin Entertainment" years, this is truly one of the most memorable. The DVD : While some critics felt that the film itself needed that certain something extra, the added bonuses on the DVD leave nothing out. Just about everything you'd want is included, in one form or another, including an ingenious commentary track "with hidden treasures," a behind the scenes featurette, a music video of the feature song, and an outtakes reel. Allow me to delve deeper into some of the best of these additions... First, let's make one thing clear; the comment "track" of this DVD should be viewed by all future DVDs, to see an inspired idea that should be done over and over. Instead of merely adding the additional audio --which often leads you to ask, "Who's talking?"-- this comment track includes additional video, including an opening clip where all the commentators visually introduce themselves. Director Richard Donner is on hand, as well as the whole original adolescent cast, including Ke Huy Quan, Corey Feldman, Sean Astin, Kerri Green, Martha Plimpton, Jeff Cohen, and Josh Brolin. This also gives you the chance to see how they look as young adults, 16 years later. That alone is worth the price of the disc, for fans of the film. For non-fans, it's at least worth the rental price. You may be wondering, what is meant when the menu claims that this is a "commentary with hidden treasures"...? Well, here's where things get interesting; whenever a particularly amusing anecdote is about to be told, the movie screen is reduced to a mini-window in the corner, while the main window is taken over by the cast, who offer their insights into that scene. It's an amusing alternate method of commentary that I personally enjoyed a lot. The only person who might not like this method of commentary is Sean Astin, who makes a visually apparent departure halfway through the commentary! He apparently left, somewhere between scene tracks 16 and 22, never to be seen again. Corey Feldman muses about the possible reasons he left, though it seems pretty odd. At least the remaining cast --and director-- offer some amusing anecdotes. Like when Michael Jackson was invited on set and Corey almost freaked; he was even given a pair of Michael's sunglasses, which, according to Jeff, he then held in his hand "like the hammer of Thor." Some scenes are mentioned which were filmed yet never to be shown...even in the deleted scenes on the disc, unfortunately. Scenes that made it onto the final cut are equally scrutinized. Kerri Green muses how her now infamous (and more than slightly overacted) scene --when Andi babbles, "Don't I have a beautiful body?"-- left her teased for 15 straight years. Such is part of the easygoing atmosphere of the commentary, which plays out enjoyably, like you've been invited to a carefree, 16-year reunion. However, while jokes are quite frequent, trivia buffs should be appeased as well. Remember the parents at the end of the film? Most of them were the actual parents of the child stars, in short cameos. Then there's the outtakes/deleted scenes. The biggest selling point of these scenes is getting to see what Data meant, at the end of the movie, when he said the scariest part of the adventure was "the octopus." For years, the only source of clips for this scene was from the Cindi Lauper music video. This DVD preserves the original cut of the scene --in all its cheesy, unfinished FX glory-- when a giant octopus attacks the kids just prior to reaching their final destination in the film. You may laugh at how even a muppet looks more lifelike than this "giant killer octopus," though it's still amusing to watch. Another moment explains why the map is slightly scorched later in the film; the town bully tries to burn it, just to tease the Goonies at a local market. Added to these scenes is a scene where another of Data's inventions backfires just prior to entering the caves, and an extended scene of Chunk and Sloth. Admittedly, this is far and away from all the deleted scenes filmed --in raw cut form, some say the feature clocked in at over 4 hours-- though including them all would've meant a double-disc collector's edition, and sadly that wasn't about to happen. Oh well; fans take whatever they can get. Perhaps the best piece of classic video memorabilia, however, would be in the form of the behind the scenes featurette, as well as the music video. The latter is Cindi Lauper's uncut, 12 minute, fully unedited music video, in its original 2-part format, as it appeared on MTV back in 1985 (there is even the original "to be continued on MTV" message, at the halfway point). As for the featurette, it is a mere 7 minutes, though it is all footage from the set back in the mid-1980's. While it isn't as long as many might hope, it includes several short snippets of additional deleted scene locations (note the police car chase that ends with one police car landing on a boat). It's a nice featurette, though with all the original cast present, why couldn't they have spliced this old footage with new interviews, as they did for anniversary DVDs of Animal House and Fast Times at Ridgemont High? The final verdict is a DVD that makes a good movie seem even greater. Personally, I always felt The Goonies was one of the best "Amblin Entertainment" films Spielberg ever helped make, prior to his Oscar-winning "Dreamworks" years. As Kerri Green muses near the end of the comment track, "This movie changed my life!" It's little wonder why, given the talented cast and crew that worked on it. It also, quite simply, is a nice, fun movie. Any fan of modern pirate treasure tales simply cannot pass it up.
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