The Goonies is directed by Richard Donner and came out in 1985. Produced by Steven Spielberg, this movie stars Corey Feldman, Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, Jeff Cohen, Kerri Green, and Martha Plimpton. The film focuses on a group of kids who find a treasure map and decide to embark on a journey to find an old pirate, all in the hopes of finding treasure that will save their to be foreclosed house. The Goonies is one of the key movies of the 80s. Between it's almost entirely child-driven cast and it's Speiberg-esque narrative, Goonies was a significant film for a lot of people who grew up during the 80s and still remains a classic today. I actually just saw this film for the first time today and that means I didn't grow up with this as a childhood classic. This was a film that I approached with a critical lense that a lot of viewers back in the day probably did not try to do. In a general sense, I enjoyed The Goonies. This is a fun, entertaining, good movie that is just those things. The child performances are great. The tone of this film is very magical and has a real mysterious feel about it. My issues with this film start off with the pacing. The Goonies is a very slow movie. In fact, I actually believe that was done on purpose to build up this adventure. That would have been good as a kid, but as an older viewer of this movie, I didn't enjoy that aspect of it. The pacing lags a lot (especially in the ending) and since this movie mainly focuses on children, the depth of acting and character don't really carry the story. Another problem I'd noticed with this film was how the movie is far more centered on style than substance. This is a movie that's composed of a pirate, sea-like tone and that carries out throughout the entire movie. Between there being lots of slow moments and far too little story, I found The Goonies to be just a good movie and not a great film. There are a whole plethora of positives though. The first thing is that aside from the performances, this movie in a technical manner is great. There are some fantastic shots taken (especially within the cave sequence) that really illuminate a very creepy if not borderline suspense tone. Those moments were all breathtaking because this movie has competent direction. I think if I had to pick the best part of the movie, it would be the first act and the set-up. Overall, I liked The Goonies, but I didn't love it. This is a good and entertaining film, but it is very centered on the stylistic elements of the story rather than the more deep, thought-provoking ideas. This was a film that had Spielberg's touch, and while it does have his pulse, this movie could have been an ounce or two better in places. Three stars= B
