The Goonies (1985)

I don’t remember this movie beginning with a prison break and a police chase. Actually, I didn’t remember a lot about this movie, but I swear, I watched it when I was a kid. At least once.  At most, I remembered vague bits and pieces, but rewatching it, everything was a surprise as if I hadn’t seen it before, which was fun. 

After the prison break and the police chase, we’re introduced to two of the main characters, a little brother and an older brother. Mike, nicknamed Mickey, and Brandon, nicknamed Brand. Their friends and three of the other main characters are Mouth, Data, and Chunk, who are Mikey's best friends. 

As a group, they call themselves “The Goonies.” 

Hence the name of the movie. 

The entire adventure starts with a trip to Mikey and Brand’s attic. All the boys go up there to snoop through their dad’s belongings. Apparently, the dad works at a museum and has a bunch of stuff from an exhibit he put together, or something like that. 

While the boys are exploring, Mikey finds an old map from the famous pirate One-Eyed Willy. The map supposedly leads to treasure. “Rich stuff,” as the boys call it, which I found adorable. 

Mikey wants to find the treasure to save his house and their neighborhood. 

See, the house is going to be foreclosed because Mikey and Brand’s dad has a bunch of overdue bills, and the whole neighborhood is going to be torn down to make room for a golf course. 

Of course, The Goonies don’t want that to happen. 

Mikey convinces his friends that they can find the treasure. That they can save their home. 

The boys end up distracting and trapping Brand, so he can’t stop them from going to find the treasure, then they ride off on their bikes to the song “The Goonies R Good Enough” by Cyndi Lauper.

Using the map, they find an old, abandoned restaurant and stumble upon a family of criminals who coincidentally were the ones being chased by the police in earlier scenes. And for some reason, they have a “creature” chained up in the restaurant’s basement.

During the boys’ run-in with the family of criminals, Brand is riding a bike down the road, searching for them, and he bumps into some teenagers his age. Two girls and a guy, who I think are Brand’s classmates. Possibly? I don’t know. They know each other somehow.  

Anyway, the guy driving causes Brand to crash the bike.

Next thing we know, Brand finds the boys at the abandoned restaurant, and for some reason, the girls who were in the car with the jackass followed him. One of the girls is named Andy, and she’s Brand’s love interest. I didn’t really get invested in their romance, though, and honestly, Andy felt a little desperate.

One-Eyed Willy’s treasure map leads the group down below the restaurant, except Chunk, who gets trapped in the freezer. He gets his own storyline and meets up with the group at the end of the movie, which is great.

I won’t go into too much detail, just because I don’t want to give spoilers, but the ending battle is fun, a little quirky, involving the criminals’ “creature” who helps The Goonies out of a tough spot. 

My Favorite Parts Of The Movie 

(Spoilers Ahead)

Mouth and The Little, Old, Spanish Woman

In the beginning scenes of the movie, Mikey and Brand’s mom comes home, bringing an old, Spanish woman to help pack up the house, since her arm is broken. But because she can’t speak Spanish, she asks Mouth to help her translate what she needs the woman to do. 

He translates, just not the correct words. 

When the mom tells the woman to separate everything in the different dresser drawers, Mouth tells her that it’s drugs, and he says, “Always separate the drugs.” And when the mom says, “Don’t go in the attic,” Mouth says, “Don’t go up there, it’s where their dad keeps his sex torture devices.” 

The poor woman thought she was in “a crazy house.” 

I couldn’t help laughing. I realize it was a little mean of Mouth to freak her out like that, but come on, who does that? I felt bad for her, but I was also very amused. And Mouth seemed proud of himself. 

Plus, it was a creative way to show his knowledge of the Spanish language since later, during the adventure, his ability to speak and read Spanish helps The Goonies understand One-Eyed Willy’s map. 

Data’s Inventions 

Data is an inventor. His inventions end up helping him and the others at various points of their adventure, which is really cool. I found him really cute, kind of like a puppy, you know, something you want to smile at and protect.

One of his inventions even saves his life when a booby trap is set off and he falls into a hole, almost smashing into a pit of spikes. He used fake dentures as a grappling hook, saving him from the spikes and pulling him back up to the top. 

Another one of his inventions, which he called “Slick Shoes,” ends up slowing the family of criminals down, giving The Goonies an opportunity to escape. The shoes release a liquid, possibly oil, onto a log that they all had to climb across to get to the other side of the cave, and when the criminals step on the liquid, they slip and hurt parts of their bodies that should only be treated nicely. 

I really like how, at the end, when The Goonies reunite with their families, we see Data hug his parents, and his dad reveals a camera-type invention, showing us where Data gets his love for inventing. 

It was a sweet moment. 

Chunk & Sloth’s Friendship

When Chunk gets separated from the rest of The Goonies, he’s held hostage by the family of criminals and tortured, ish. Not really. But anyway, they lock him in the basement with their “creature,” which turns out to be the third brother in the family. But this brother is mentally impaired and also really strong, like Hulk-level strong, and so sweet.  

Chunk befriends him. 

Their friendship isn’t a main focus, but they do show up together at the end of the movie to help the rest of The Goonies. Having fun, acting as pirates, they save The Goonies and defeat the wicked, weird family of criminals. Actually, Sloth does all the heavy lifting, literally, since he lifts a big boulder out of the way, so The Goonies can escape. He also saves his family. 

The family of criminals is arrested in the end. 

And as far as I know, Sloth goes to live with Chunk. 

Final Thoughts 

The Goonies is a fun, quirky adventure starring a group of preteen outcasts searching for treasure, determined to save their home. I thought it was great. Like most 80s and 90s movies, it did include some random scenes that I didn’t totally get but it didn’t subtract from my enjoyment. 

I definitely recommend it. And I rate it 4 stars out of 5.