Kaonashi Ga Suki

A friend of mine used to run a newsletter that she’d send out to her family and friends. I contributed to her newsletter by writing a couple of reviews of old movies. I had only written two when she took a break from the newsletter because real life caught up with her and she’d been unable to maintain it. Since I don’t have anything new or interesting to write on my blog for now, I’m just going to post one of the reviews.

Movie reviewers usually discuss the newest movies in order to advise the general public whether or not they should go out and see it. I’m going to do the opposite and review an old movie- a 20-year old movie, as a matter of fact. Why? Because I enjoyed this movie as a kid and I want the new generation to be exposed to it.

Before Sean Astin accompanied Elijah Wood to Mount Doom in the widely acclaimed “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, he went on an adventure with his friends in the 1985 Steven Spielberg movie, “The Goonies”. Set in an Oregon coastal town, “The Goonies” follows the escapades of a group of teens in their search for a legendary pirate’s buried treasure while evading a duo of incredibly stupid escaped convicts and their domineering mother.

Dismayed that land developers are arriving the next morning to bulldoze their houses to make room for shopping malls, the kids feel that the only way to save the town is to pay off the developers with the pirate’s booty, and so they go off on an adventure similar to that found in the Indiana Jones trilogy. Dangerous booby traps, riddles, and bad guys hinder the groups’ progress every step of the way, but their determination to save the town they love is so strong that they risk everything. I think Spielberg made this film as a kind of “Indiana Jones” for the kids, especially since “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” was made the previous year.

Granted, this movie isn’t perfect. The dialogue can be corny at times, and some of the characters are your typical teen stereotypes: the Fat Kid, the Cheerleader, the Smart Aleck, etc. And yes, it’s predictable that some of the kids have special abilities that help them overcome certain obstacles: one of them can speak Spanish, so he translates the pirate’s map for them. But hey- it’s a kids’ movie, so one can’t exactly expect Shakespeare out of it. Besides, it’s definitely a lot better than Harriet the Spy.

In addition to Astin, the young cast includes Corey Feldman (before he started making those awful movies with his namesake Corey Haim), Ke Huy Quan, fresh from his role as Indy’s sidekick Short Round in “Temple of Doom”, Josh Brolin, Martha Plimpton, Kerri Green and Jeff Cohen. The adult cast includes Robert Davi and Joe Pantoliano as the dim-witted Fratelli brothers, Anne Ramsey as their not-so-charming matriarch, and John Matsuzak as the famous Sloth.

Because there are a few slightly unsettling scenes (ex: images of skeletons, a corpse, and the criminal family’s horribly deformed brother), this movie may not be suitable for very young children. However, kids 7 and above will enjoy this movie. It’s silly, funny, and best of all, a lot of fun to watch. I first saw this movie when I was 9, and loved it. I’m 29 now, and whenever it’s on HBO, I still watch it.