a5c7b9f00b A private detective specializing in missing children is charged with the task of finding a special child who dark forces want to eliminate. In an unknown location in Tibet, a young boy with mystical abilities, the Golden Child, receives badges of honor and demonstrates his power by reviving a dead bird, which is to become a constant companion. However, a band of villains led by a mysterious man breaks into the hidden temple, slaughters the monks and takes the boy away. Some time afterwards, a young woman named Kee Nang watches a Los Angeles TV show in which Chandler Jarrell, a social worker who is confronted by a young Asian woman who tells him that he is the Chosen One destined to save The Golden Child, the savior of all mankind, from the clutches of the evil demon Sardo Numspa, who won&#39;t rest until he sees to it that the boy is in his clutches. But Jarrell disbelieves the mysticism but he finds more and more evidence of demon worshiphe starts investigating. This movie reminded me of the OLD Hollywood factory studio action kid cliff hangers (Gasp! for air…) that I saw weekly when a kid myself. Except they were all chained together in one showing and it had a script: Cecil B. DeMille, D.W. Griffith. I mean MORE than just a shooting script &amp; some stock old dependable tomes. It&#39;s production values are very high rather than just stunts to hook kids. Great special effects &amp; story continuity of seemingly disparate characters, animals &amp; even props. I like Eddie Murphy. I like his genius for letting us in on the joke. He can break the fourth barrier without hurting or stopping the movie and in fact emphasizing something important to the movie&#39;s if not his own POV. No small gift of acting talent: Buster Keaton. The moviea story peaks frequently like a good serial but finally all at once without the genre&#39;s space-time deceptions. At times the writer says very important things about children &amp; how adults should regard them. I&#39;ve been to Asia &amp; Nepal couple of times on military &amp; diplomatic missions during war &amp; just the Cold War. As an adult supervising my kid &amp; his friends on a Saturday afternoon, several characters delivered lines about Murphy&#39;s actions that were distracting. A Buddha-like character said after Murphy diminished the importance of Murphy&#39;s character&#39;s defining actions during an action scene, &quot;(Individual) Americans should be aware of how powerful they are in the world!&quot; Like the Hollywood star: Eddie Murphy. God Bless the United States of America. My kid &amp; his friends enjoyed itwell. Somewhat underrated Eddie Murphy movie with Eddie playing an American social worker recruited by a Tibetan woman to help rescue a kidnapped boy with special powers called the &quot;Golden Child.&quot; I remember when this came out it wasn&#39;t met with a warm reception, from the critics or myself. In part I think because it wasn&#39;t a straight comedy like myself and others had come to expect from Eddie. But also because it wasn&#39;tgoodthe similar Big Trouble in Little China, which came out the same year. Ironically, this was a bigger box office hit than Big Trouble but the latter has gone on to deservedly earn a cult fandom while Golden Child still has a mixed reputation at best.<br/><br/>Eddie Murphy is pretty good here and seems to be having a fun time. Charlotte Lewis is fine, performance-wise and looks-wise. Charles Dance is an enjoyable villain. The scene stealer here is Victor Wong, who was also in Big Trouble in Little China. The special effects are charming in that special way &#39;80s effects often were. Love the Pepsi can dance scene. Some cheesy stuff in this movie for sure but, for the most part, it&#39;s pretty entertaining. If you like &#39;80s movies you should find something to like with this. It&#39;s got action, comedy, and a little bit of fantasy all mixed together. It&#39;s not what I would call a classic but it is fun. Eddie Murphy's latest is a flabby disappointment. The jokes die, the action curdles. Much of it fallsflatsmashed tinsel.
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326 weeks ago