Over the Christmas / New Year holiday time the New Zealand Herald
newspaper ran this series of articles with journalists giving their
suggestions for New Zealand's favourite family film for The Great
Family Film Poll ...


*The* *Goonies*
Steven Spielberg didn't direct The Goonies, but you'd
be hard-pressed to find a more enduring distillation of
the master film-maker's family-friendly cinematic
identity. Spielberg came up with the story for the
beloved 1985 adventure, and is credited as Executive
Producer - his unmatched ability to give kids what they
want can be felt in every frame of the film.

Indeed, The Goonies is childhood wish-fulfilment
cinema of the highest order - even the most
indoors-inclined children fantasise about going on a
adventure with their pals to find pirate treasure. Add
in some Rube Goldberg-esque contraptions, a few water
slides and a little bit of pre-teen smooching, and
there's not a kid in the world who didn't want in.

Future Lord of the Rings co-star Sean Astin leads on of
the greatest-ever collection of child actors as Mikey,
one of the group of young friends whose houses are all
about to be demolished by an unscrupulous property
developer. Upon discovering a lost pirate map in his
attic, Mikey leads his chums on a cave-bound quest to
find the treasure that will save their families. Doing
so brings them into contact with all sorts of peril,
some of it in the form of bumbling criminal family The
Fratellis. One of whom sings opera.

I've always seen The Goonies as an Americanised Famous
Five or Secret Seven story - it took the old-fashioned,
youth-empowering derring-do of Enid Blyton's classic
adventures and infused yankee insolence. There was
genuine power in hearing these kids say "shit".

Arriving as it did smack in the middle of the 1980s,
The Goonies' status an enhanced Blyton helps it to
function as a metaphor for New Zealand's transition
away from English-centric pop culture towards a brasher,
American-style form of family entertainment. It remains
one of the greatest ever examples of the form, and
family-friendly films are still trying in vain to
replicate its unique alchemy.

- Dominic Corry, New Zealand Herald Film Writer
28 December, 2015

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