brett@ucla-cs.UUCP (06/04/85)
The Goonies is Steven Spielberg's latest new film to hit
theatres around the nation. (Actually Friday it will hit
theatres). I saw a sneak preview this past weekend and will
try to summarize the plot and give you a quick and dirty reaction.
PLOT:
Briefly, this story features a band of youngsters, who
call themselves "the Goonies". They go on a quest
to find treasure. They find a map in the attic and
the adventure begins when they reach an old shack.
(Of course, there is a scene in which they
travel to this place!)
When they get to this broken down shambles of a place,
they go in. There they meet outlaws who become their
adversaries. These outlaws have just broken out of jail;
they are the Fratelli's (or some such). One of the
brothers is named "Sloth". (No more about Sloth, but
once you see Sloth, you can almost guess what's going
to happen). Sloth is chained by the wrists watching TV.
Anyhow, the chase begins from this place, through underground
caves to what the Goonies hope is hidden treasure. The treasure
map points the way for the Goonies; the Fratellis initially aim to
track down the kids.
That gives you an idea of the plot. I don't
want to spoil it too much for you.
REVIEW:
Steven Spielberg has had a long list of box office hits.
This movie, undoubtably will be successful, but
is not as good as many of his previous films.
Although, it's OK, and perhaps delightful at
times - overall it lacked something.
Goonies was an adventure that wasn't adventurous
enough. Perhaps this film didn't have enough
different vibrant, exciting, action shots.
I suppose the latter is what differentiates a good adventure
from a mediocre one; the action never ceases. Scene to
scene: action shots, to reaction shots, and so on.
This is where the movie lacked. The action started, paused,
started, paused - but the timing was slow. The adventure
seemed to drag on.
One "drag" on the film's momentum was the Goonies struggle over whether to
return home or whether to go on with the adventure; the Goonies
dwelled on this debate a bit too much - something Indiana
Jones never really considers. Let's face it, if you're going on
an adventure, you just hate to hear "lets go home". This is
because its a forgone conclusion they are NOT going to go home.
More than this, this essential debate broke up the action. Keep this
in mind when you see the film. See if you agree whether this debate
to return home or not was essential to the adventure or not. The
question to ask then is this: if all the talk about returning home
were removed - and more action put in the movie - would the movie
be more or less successful?
It is hard to criticize a film, with a cast of
kids, that is meant to be fun, provide comedy, adventure,
and suspense. The film provides these escapes
without developing either of these genres to any particular
extent. As such, it was an interesting diversion, but I
don't think I'd really rave about it.
See the movie at a matinee with your kids. It's rated
PG.
--
Brett Fleisch
University of California Los Angeles
3804 Boelter Hall
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Phone: (213) 825-2756, (213) 474-5317
brett@ucla-cs.ARPA or
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