Movie on DVD Review

The Goonies (2010)

The Goonies | THE GOONIES Oh, to be young again
Image credit: Everett Collection
THE GOONIES Oh, to be young again
EW's GRADE
A

Details Release Date: Nov 02, 2010; DVD Release Date: Nov 02, 2010; With: Sean Astin

Want to feel old? The Goonies (1985, PG, 1 hr., 54 mins.) is celebrating its 25th anniversary. That's right, the giddy adventure is now ancient enough to run on Turner Classics. And Jeff Cohen, a.k.a. Chunk, the tubby Hawaiian-shirted klutz with a sweet tooth for Baby Ruths and a hatred of ''The Truffle Shuffle,'' is now a 36-year-old lawyer. If you grew up in the '80s, chances are Steven Spielberg and Richard Donner's film about a ragtag troop of wimps, asthmatics, and smart-asses who battle the evil Fratellis while hunting for pirate treasure was a major touchstone of your youth. Maybe you identified with Corey Feldman's wise guy Mouth, or Sean Astin's wheezy Mikey, or Ke Huy Quan's gadget freak Data. Maybe you had a cool older brother like Josh Brolin or had a crush on a cheerleader like Kerri Green. Whatever the case, there was — and is — a Goonie for everyone to identify with. But the real magic of the movie is how it took Spielberg's rollicking Indiana Jones formula — secret portals, fun-house skeletons, Rube Goldberg booby traps — and adapted it to a world that kids could relate to: A BMX bike substitutes for Indy's motorcycle; preppy-jock bullies stand in for villainous Nazis. It's ridiculously fun. Cracking open the hulking new Goonies collector's edition, I felt the same rush I used to get opening a pack of baseball cards. Along with spotless new DVD and Blu-ray transfers, there's a pirate's trove of EXTRAS that would make One-Eyed Willy proud: deleted scenes, nifty collectible storyboards, a mini–board game, and a great commentary with Donner and all seven of his stars, who trade happy memories like the best of friends. As Mikey would say, this is ''the rich stuff.'' A-

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Originally posted Oct 27, 2010 Published in issue #1127 Nov 05, 2010 Order article reprints
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