The Goonies

The other day, I watched the movie The Goonies for the first time on my television set. I had not known about it except for the theme song sung by Cindy Lauper until then. The kid adventure movie was released in 1985.

The story describes the adventure of a children's group called the Goonies that is formed of Chunk, Mouth, Data, Mikey and Mikey's big brother, Brand. The Goonies and Brand's two female friends search for the treasure hided by a legendary pirate named One-Eyed Willy.

The scene of the chubby Chunk's appearance and the relationship between Chunk and Mouth reminded me of the one between Vern and Teddy in Stand by Me that I have watched many times. Plump and funny kids like Chunk and Vern might often be seen in the United States. Come to think of it, child actors like them are sometimes seen in Japanese dramas and films. I feel overweight children to be charming and amusing. Corey Feldman played the talkative Mouth and Teddy. He was a popular child actor those days and costarred with River Phoenix in Stand by Me the next year. The two child actors appearing together must have quite interested the movie fans at the time. It has increased the enjoyment of watching the famous flick again.

The scenes of the boys, the Goonies, riding their bicycles and the relationship between the brothers Mikey and Brand reminded me of E.T. that was directed by Steven Spielberg and released in 1982. Spielberg is the executive producer of the 1985 movie and created the story of it. I think that the story is enjoyable thanks to that. The movie was good but it actually was not my taste because I am not interested in ancient civilizations and legends centuries ago. I, however, would have enjoyed myself watching it the other day due in part to nostalgia if I had watched it for the first time when I was a child or at least in my teens and twenties when I still remembered my childhood. I believe that the film entertains fans of the Indiana Jones series directed by Spielberg anyway.

I first watched the Tim Burton movie Batman released in 1989 two years ago. Although I had anticipated that it would be wonderful because it was highly rated by movie fans, yet it was just good because I could not help comparing the old movie with the Christopher Nolan movie The Dark Knight released in 2008 which I watched around the same time. The Goonies is also highly rated but the old movie was just good for me. Blockbusters reflects the times, so I would better watch them as soon as possible if I have a chance of doing them.