"The Goonies" is definitely a cult film and people who like it don't just like it...they think it's the best film ever! However, my bet is most of these folks were kids who saw it in the 1980s. I was in my 20s when it debuted....and I noticed it was marketed towards kids, even more so than most of Steven Spielberg's productions, so I avoided it. And, after seeing it tonight....many years later, I realized I was right...I just wasn't in the demographics the studio was seeking out with this film. With the stars being kids, the jokes being crude, the adventure plot, and the logic often being tenuous at best, it clearly is NOT a film marketed towards adults. And, I am sure this added to the appeal of the film to kids...that it was THEIR film and adults just didn't get it!

The film stars a group of four kids and three teens. The kids in particular seem like caricatures...not real kids. You have the fat kid, the brainy computer nerd Asian kid, the smart aleck kid who can somehow read 17th century Spanish and the 'normal' kid who is the hero. They are tropes more than kids. As for the adults, most of them in the film are crooks or jerks....as this IS a kids' movie and kids LIKE films where adults are the enemy...at least that's how it was in the 1980s.

The group stumble upon a treasure map in the normal kid's attic and the map takes them to the hideout for three awful criminals. The kids manage to sneak past them and explore the tunnels beneath the house for pirate treasure...assisted by the teens and a weird guy named 'Sloth'. Eventually, the crooks realize what's happening and it's a mad dash to the treasure.

As I said before, the film is marketed towards kids....with plenty of content that might have worried parents back in the 80s. Murder, a surprising amount of bad language and a scary plot...just the sort of stuff kids love! However, as an adult, you watch this and notice all the illogical plot elements and cheap cliches....stuff kids generally don't notice.

My rating is a 2 for adults and 8 for younger kids. Adults will find it very rough viewing....even painful at times. It will also upset many parents because so much adult material is in the film. Kids will LOVE the adult material and like that it casts kids (albeit incredibly unrealistic ones) as the heroes. Overall, I'd give this one a 4...but strongly advise adults (unless they saw it and loved it in 1985) to avoid it like the plague.

By the way, if you do watch, note when Anne Ramsey yells at the kids "The only thing we serve is tongue!". It's ironic, as soon after she made the film, Ramsey lost much of her tongue due to cancer surgery!

The Goonies, what a fun movie. I will admit Richard Donner's direction was a little too leisurely and there are some parts in the middle half that are too slow and falls dangerously into cloying sentimentality. Still this childhood favourite of mine is great fun from beginning to end. No matter how thin the story is, it has an intriguing premise and Donner and Chris Columbus keep the action going strong and the adventure fun enough for the younger audience. The script is funny and affectionate, the music is memorable and in general the special effects are good. The image of the pirate ship was mind blowing and the cinematography and costumes are very well done. The performances are very good; while Sean Astin and Corey Feldman are the standouts of the child cast, it is Anne Ramsey who steals the show as Ma Fetali in a effortlessly over the top and deliciously evil performance, very like Diana Dors in The Amazing Mr Blunden. All in all, a fun adventure yarn. 8/10 Bethany Cox

I find it interesting that while no film has been made to be a sequel to The Goonies, 3 different video games were derived from this film. Not surprising in that the film itself resembles a video game in that private little world a bunch of kids called The Goonies find beneath an abandoned seaside restaurant on the Pacific coast.

The head of the gang is young Sean Astin and acting like a den brother is older sibling Josh Brolin when he's not trying to get something going with Martha Plimpton. Among the rest of the gang is Kerri Green, Jonathan Ke Quan, Corey Feldman, and Jeff Cohen.

The kids have an old map found dusty and forgotten in the attic of Astin and Brolin. But also at the same time Anne Ramsey a current Ma Barker has busted one of her Rhodes Scholar sons out of the local jail and they find the abandoned restaurant a most convenient hiding place. So while the kids hunt for the treasure of legendary pirate One Eyed Willie, another group of kids chasing them, the bad guys chasing them all and the law looking for the bad guys, it's all a merry chase.

Going below that restaurant the Goonies find an adventure that would be the envy of Indiana Jones filled with all kinds of traps and devices to kill or at least discourage. Obvious that Steven Spielberg borrowed liberally from that film of his to use for this one with juvenile appeal.

The Goonies after over 30 years is still great family entertainment. What could be better than watching kids on a pulp adventure they only read and dream about.

Kids of all ages.