Curator Watchlist
A quintessential kid-adventure movie: noisy, chaotic, funny, and packed with booby traps, secret passages, and big-hearted friendship. Its charm comes from how seriously it treats childhood imagination while still delivering genuine peril and momentum.
Where to watch: Buy
Fri · 1h 54m
Director: Richard Donner
Starring: Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, Jeff Cohen
Young teen Mikey Walsh and his friends set off on a quest to find Pirate One-Eyed Willie's treasure in hopes of saving their homes from demolition. However, on their quest to find the treasure, they run into a family of recently escaped criminals, determined to capture the kids and reach the treasure first.
Richard Donner
Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, Jeff Cohen
A quintessential kid-adventure movie: noisy, chaotic, funny, and packed with booby traps, secret passages, and big-hearted friendship. Its charm comes from how seriously it treats childhood imagination while still delivering genuine peril and momentum.
The Goonies is pure childhood mythmaking: a basement-map quest that turns into a full-blown underground odyssey. It moves with the messy energy of kids making bad decisions for good reasons, and that gives the movie its enduring spark. The humor is broad, the stakes are simple, and the sense of discovery is constant.
What keeps it alive decades later is the chemistry of the group. Each kid has a distinct comic rhythm, and the film understands that friendship can be as important as the treasure. The villains are cartoonish enough to feel like a real threat without breaking the movie’s playful tone.
It’s also very much a product of its era, with all the scrappy charm and occasional rough edges that implies. If you want a polished family adventure, this may feel unruly; if you want a movie that feels like a sleepover dare turned into legend, it still delivers.
DirkH (5★) · 4315 likes
My father died when I was very young, so I have no real memories of him. Today, while dropping off my kids at my mum for a sleepover, I found a box full of them. My mum was clearing out the attic and had set aside a box with pictures of my dad when he was younger. I was shocked by the sharp sting of missed opportunities and absent memories that washed over me. When I got home, that feeling… more
adambolt (2.5★) · 2899 likes
if i wanted to hear kids screaming for two hours i would've just booked a flight
Mark Mooney (5★) · 2695 likes
"Hey, kid! I want you to spill your guts, tell us everything!" - Francis "Everything?" - Chunk "Everything" - Francis "Everything. OK, I'll talk! In third grade, I cheated on my history exam. In fourth grade, I stole my uncle Max's toupee and I glued it on my face when I was Moses in my Hebrew School play. In fifth grade, I knocked my sister Edie down the stairs and I blamed it on the dog... when my mom sent… more
David Sims (2.5★) · 2515 likes
I will never understand this fuckin thing
demi adejuyigbe (3.5★) · 2467 likes
mikey is fucking delusional and i love and cherish data so much
Another defining 80s coming-of-age ensemble, but with a more reflective, bittersweet tone.
Captures the same memory-soaked childhood camaraderie and neighborhood-scale adventure.
Shares the kid-led wonder, danger, and emotional sincerity of a classic Spielberg-era adventure.
A fellow 80s kid fantasy built on imagination, invention, and youthful obsession with discovery.
Combines adventure, humor, and fairy-tale momentum with a similarly quotable, crowd-pleasing spirit.
A chaotic family adventure where ordinary kids are thrown into escalating danger and spectacle.
Another beloved fantasy adventure that treats childhood imagination as a real, transformative force.
A kid ensemble facing larger-than-life threats with humor, loyalty, and 80s monster-movie energy.
For viewers who like adventurous peril and a strong sense of wonder, even in a darker register.
Shares the childlike excitement, physical danger, and playful sense of scale.
A more fantastical but equally exuberant celebration of impossible adventure and invention.
If the appeal is 80s youth energy and heightened genre fun, this offers a cooler, darker counterpart.
childhood adventure, friendship, treasure hunt, coming-of-age, family under threat, escapism, underground quest, comic peril
adventure-comedy, family film, coming-of-age, treasure hunt, ensemble cast, nostalgic, booby traps, underground adventure, 1980s, lighthearted peril