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The Golden Child -Paramount (1986)
Summary: The Beverly Hills Cop fights the bad guy from The Last Action Hero. My Thoughts: Here are three reasons why you should love The Golden Child:
If that doesn’t make you want to see this film, I don’t know what will. The Golden Child has always been one of those guilty pleasure films for me. It’s the right mix between fun action adventure and cheesy bad movie fun. The Golden Child stars Eddie Murphy who plays Axel Foley, I mean Chandler Jarrell. Chandler is a finder of lost children who’s approached by the sexy Kee Nang, played by Charlotte Lewis, to help her locate a child who has been kidnapped. This isn’t any normal child, however. This child is The Golden Child if you haven’t guessed already. His destiny is to keep the world from literally going to hell. It turns out that Murphy is the Chosen One who must rescue the boy from his captors. Eddie Murphy is the logical choice to save the kid, because it says so right on the cover of the DVD.
Some may argue that its only Beverly Hills Cop in a fantasy setting and I’d have to agree since that’s half the fun. Of course, Murphy’s Bugs Bunny like behavior does get a little old at times and that's exactly why he doesn't have much of a career anymore. Aside from some of the more annoying bits, there’s still enough other good stuff to keep this film afloat. The underlying plot is clever enough and fantastic enough to be a good film on its own. It’s sort of poor man’s Big Trouble in Little China. Hell, half the Asian cast from that movie shows up in The Golden Child for a little reunion. Surprisingly, the weakest part of this film isn’t some of the extended Murphy humor. No, the score to The Golden Child is simply awful. Not fun “hey this is crappy 80s music!” awful, but “are they playing the same fucking song again?” and “I think my ears are bleeding” awful. I swear to god that one of the tunes is repeated for a car chase, an action sequence, and for some general tomfoolery/transition shots. Oh well, if you can try to ignore the grating music this can be a great film. I wish this DVD edition reflected how fun The Golden Child is. It’s a flat out a terrible disc. It’s hard to find a place to start, but the non-anamorphic widescreen is as good of a place as any. If you own a widescreen television, you’ll be watching this film with black bars on the top and bottom and the sides of your set. How sweet is that? The picture itself is also pretty wretched with tons of visible particles and scratches appearing throughout the film. The surround sound? Surprisingly, the best part of this edition is the 5.1 surround mix and even it isn’t that good. In the end you’ll either like this film or absolutely hate it. Since this edition is so shitty, I can really only recommend a rental if you’re not a huge fan. Of course, since this retails at nearly rental price, you might just buy this thing and toss it after you’ve had your laughs. Super Fun Bonus: The devil in The Golden Child is none other than Inspector Gadget’s Dr. Klaw! Well, maybe not really, but they sure sound alike. Extras: How’s this for extras? A theatrical trailer. Freaking lame. Score: Film: 7.5 Extras: 1.0 Edition: 1.0 -Paul
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