The Goonies is a headscratcher to me. It was created by some of the best filmmakers in Hollywood, Directed by Richard Donner, Produced by Steven Spielberg, and written by Christopher Columbus. I love much of the work of all listed, but I find The Goonies is one of the worst studio movies ever made. It is the ultimate in Hollywood schlock. Some will likely accuse me of not liking it because I do not have a good imagination. I can only say I disagree. I would argue those who like it do not have a good sense of things that suck.
Goonies is a never ending series of very loud, annoying and preposterous situations that will have you rolling your eyes more than a Felix the Cat clock. First and foremost, the continuous dialog and general noise in this movie is enough to make it a form of torture. The audio is pegged at 10 from the opening and never once lets up. Secondly, the gaps in reality: it's just a kids film you say? Movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark and Star Wars intelligently made a kids genre entertaining. Ditto to The Bad News Bears, Home Alone or anything Walt Disney Produced. This film bashes you over the head with every cliché and impossible situation imaginable. The characters are all one dimensional and unimaginative, most all of them have an adult wit and a snappy response for every thing posed to them like a kid from a bad sitcom, and I cannot stress this enough, all of them talk nonstop, mostly simultaneously, for the entire film.
I am puzzled that Goonies is in the IMDb Top 500. I honestly believe it deserves to be on the IMDb bottom 100. My guess is people who like it saw the film when they were young and relate it to happy, nostalgic times in their childhood. If that be the case, be prepared for a shocker when you discover how poorly it aged. In regards to its genre, it may be found inappropriate by some parents, though maybe not by today's standards. There is a lot of dirty language and disrespect to authority in general. I suppose some people think it's cute when kids cuss, are disrespectful to their parents and do what ever the they feel. I think it ruins the fun of a kid's movie. On a side note; The Goonies also teaches kids that crappy film making is expectable behavior. It is not.
The tech specs are fine, even very good at times, and the locations dramatic, but the story is absolutely preposterous. Kids alternately acting like stupid kids and then like genius adults, inventing and executing ridiculously impossible solutions to their problems, which frequently make no sense at all, (down this hole must be the only way out of this basement - but then why did one kid just climb out a window?). And what was with director Richard Donner's perspective of reality? Kids are yelling when they need to whisper, yet still not being heard. A teen age jock is bound by a single rap around his arms with one of those stretchy chest exercise springs? That same jock is unwillingly dragged by a car because the driver is pushing down on his hand as he holds onto the car door? There are a bevy of Batman the TV series escape opportunities - if you are going to kill a kid, just push him into a pool of water and walk away, assuming he's dead for sure. In one scene a kid is paralyzed with horror as he awaits the reveal of a monster, then suddenly, for no apparent reason, forsakes said viewing and starts making out with his girl friend. I will give you that certain liberties can be taken both in film making, and especially with this genre, but surely SOMETHING has to make sense or you lose your audience. Right? Hmm, a famous saying of P.T. Barnum comes to mind. On second thought, forget everything I just said.