- Directed by Richard Donner, The Goonies is as kinetic and goofy as the many Rube Goldberg devices it contains. The plot is simply that a group of kids who call themselves the Goonies set off to find a long-lost treasure rumored to have been buried with the 17th-century pirate One-Eyed Willy. The Goonies themselves are typical 80s movie archetypes, consisting of asthmatic leader Mikey (Sean Astin), talkative Mouth (Corey Feldman), inventive Data (Jonathan Ke Huy Quan), and clumsy Chunk (Jeff Cohen). Mikey's older brother Brand (Josh Brolin) tries to keep the kids in line, while his love interest Andy (Kerri Green) and her friend Stef (Martha Plimpton) get dragged along for the adventure. Standing in the way of the Goonies are the dastardly criminal Fratelli brothers (Robert Davi, Joe Pantoliano), led by their amusingly domineering Ma (Anne Ramsey). And there's a third Fratelli brother named Sloth (John Matuszak), whose kind heart makes up for...well, a lot.
- You'd be hard-pressed to find a more intentionally frivolous adventure story than The Goonies, which is probably both its greatest strength and biggest weakness. For every impressive visual effect and intricate action sequence, somebody gets hit in the crotch, conks their head on the ceiling, or falls victim to one of the movie's many "booty traps." The writers (Steven Spielberg contributed the story and Chris Columbus the screenplay) toss off references to Ma Barker, Errol Flynn, Psycho, The Great Escape, Superman, and Gremlins as deftly as the movie inserts Pepsi products into its characters' hands. While Ma Fratelli and Chunk, the latter of whom inexplicably resembles a young Ned Beatty, are supremely entertaining, characters like Mouth and Stef (who end up together by the film's conclusion) are painfully annoying. Come to think of it, "entertaining and annoying" describes every Richard Donner film I've ever seen, so I guess it's no surprise that The Goonies is like that, too.
- This was the theatrical film debut for Josh Brolin and Sean Astin.
