....

If you were a kid during the 80's i think it's pretty safe to say you wished the rock slide in the Goonies was in your own back yard.  How cool was that!  Hell it's more than 15 years since i first saw the goonies at the movies and i STILL want one!! :)

The brainchild of Steven Speilberg, The Goonies is a swashbuckling adventure movie for kids, starring kids. 

The Goonies home town is gradually being bought out by a big developer and the Walsh Family is low on cash but don't want to sell their beloved home. Several other families are also refusing to sell, but Mr Big is putting a lot of pressure on the families. 

The Goonies (Mikey and Brand Walsh, Chunk, Mouth, Data, Andy and Stef) also don't want their homes sold and when they discover a treasure map in the attic of , they set out to find the buried treasure of One Eyed Willie.

Meanwhile.... The Vatenli family (Anne Ramsey and Joe Pantiliano) make a jail break to get head son Fransis (Robert Davi of TV's Profiler) out.   They hold up in an abandoned sea side restuarant which just so happens to be a marking on the Treasure Map.

Not knowing their are criminals residing in the restuarant, The Goonies go about their treasure hunt and soon find themselves in hot water as they escape from the Vitelli's.. Unfortunately for Chunk, he gets captured and is chained up with the Vitelli's  3rd son..the disfigured Sloth (John Matuzsak)

So with the Vitelli's in hot pursuit, and a deadline approaching for the families to pay off thier debts before they're houses are sold for land development, the Goonies are racing to find One Eyed Willie's hidden treasures.

....

VIDEO
On offer is a quite nice looking Anamorphic Widescreen Transfer, that is unfortunately another Region 4 NTSC release from Warner.  While I can appreciate the release of a groovy little film like the Goonies to Region 4, I do wish this nonsense of NTSC DVDs would stop.  We are a PAL territory after all.

Colour Saturation is a little on the muted side and the constrast range is somewhat on a low side..this tends to add "greyness" to the picture.  Sharpness isn't too bad but plays it safe, so is lacking a fraction.   All these niggles are the result of a dated transfer..that's all. 

Spread over two layers of an RSDL DVD, the layer change occurs at 56:10.  This is right in the middle of a scene, with little motion.   (i've actually noticed a trend with Warner RSDL DVDs and they tend to place layer changed in the middle of a scene as opposed to between scenes...interesting.....but I have to admit it often works quite well)

...

AUDIO
For it's theatrical release, The Goonies received not only a Dolby Stereo release, but also a 70mm 6 track release (at least in the USA).  The DVD's English tracks are in both Dolby Digital 5.1 mix and a dolby 2.0. 
The 5.1 mix doesn't sound too bad, but is lacking in fedelity...again, it's just dated.   As for the 5.1-ness.. it the surrounds are very mono sounding.  Bass isn't too bad, and musically is well spread.  Dialogue is clean and clear, but just a bit thin... no biggy really.

...

EXTRAS
Rounding off this DVD is a rather nice collection of goondies :)

• Audio/Video Commentary. Now this is pretty sweet.   instead of the usual commentary audio mix underneath the movie picture from star to finish, you get some nice snippets of "live" video commentary in it's place.   This is a terrific commentary incorporating the entire Goonies clan.... it's recorded near 15 years after the fact.
  (NOTE when this option is selected, you can NOT change audio on the Fly, NOR can you play just the audio portion of the commentary under the movie picture...in fact if you scroll thru the main audio tracks while watching just the movie, the audio commentary track is "hidden"...
• Music Video - "The Goonies 'R Good Enough" - Cyndi Lauper.  and you thought only Michael Jackon made long video clips..this one runs a WHOPPING 12 minutes
• Theatrical Trailer
• Making of the Goonies - 7 minutes of usual behind the scenes footage
• Cast and Filmmakers Listing
• Outtakes.  7 minutes worth.  4x3 letterbox

Ah, here's a movie that takes me back...Other then NOT being a PAL transfer for region 4, this a great little DVD. (though i think it has a little too much swearing for the real young'ns)