Goonies, The

Treasure Hunt

Main Cast: Sean Astin, Jeff Cohen, Corey Feldman, Josh Brolin

Director: Richard Donner

Plot Summary: A pirate map sets off a chain of events that lead a group of kids down into the earth to find a treasure and solve a mystery.

This is an exuberant, sprawling, loud, and extremely funny adventure comedy, starring a rag-tag collection of kids who stumble onto something seeming far beyond their understanding, yet somehow they manage to struggle through to the end. The most recent CGI movie Monster House is very much in the Goonies spirit.

The plot? Well, the Walsh family house is in danger of being sold out from under the money-strapped family. The youngest, Mikey (Astin), does not want to move, and comes up with the idea of finding a lost treasure after a trip up to his father’s attic. His older brother Brand (Brolin) only wishes to keep Mikey and his friends out of trouble. He also wishes to get closer to Andi, a red-headed young woman under the eye of the local rich guy.

But that is secondary to the main story. Mikey, with his friends Chunk, Mouth, and Data, follow the map to an abandoned house. What they don’t know is that the Fratelli family, bank robbers on the run, have taken the place over. In keeping with the relatively adventurous but none-bloody tone of the movie, the family is scary but not darkly so. They pop up again and again to foil the kids from grabbing the treasure.

I remember this one from long ago in my youth, and after watching it again, I was pleased anew. The plot is sprightly and moves briskly along, the kids are believable and yell most of their lines, and the story is refreshingly direct and filled with humor and a great sense of adventure. This movie will wake up the kid in you, hopefully, and force you to start looking for your own buried treasure to discover.