When did The Goonies become TOO Adult for Kids to Watch?

The Goonies came out in 1985 and is arguably one of the greatest kids movies of all time. The story involved a group of kids that were played by actual kids. Josh Brolin (Brand) was one of the oldest of the main children cast at age 17 while his love interest Kerri Green (Andy) was 18 years old. Martha Plimpton (Stef) was 15 years old at the time while the slightly younger Sean Astin (Mikey), Corey Feldmen (Mouth), Ke Huy Quan (Data) were 13. Jeff Cohen (Chunk) was the youngest of the group at age 11. The kids go on an adventure that may seem outrageous and not typical, but there were only a few handful of moments that was completely ludicrous. It was set in the town of Astoria, Oregon where the kids are about to be separated because of a foreclosure deal that is to buy all of the land around the “Goon Docks,” hence the name, the Goonies. It was adventurous, it was fun, and the kids do not exactly win in the end but they do come out on top. The bad guys legitimately almost get away with everything. It was everything that a kid’s movie of the 80s could hope for. But apparently parent’s think it is bad for kids to watch today.

The story involves lots of cursing, kids being threatened by torture and death by criminals, there’s mention of drugs and sex as jokes and there was a mutant strong man that seems like a bad guy at first but later becomes one of the heroes in the end. All of this is bad in our over protective ways of today. Even though many parents more than likely watched The Goonies as kids themselves, it is becoming more and more apparent that the film they loved as kids, is not appropriate for their own kids to view. At least to them.

I researched the movie at first just to inquire about whether or not a sequel or a reboot would be made. After looking through a couple articles and a few movie forums, I found very conflicting information, but also many parents reviews on the movie. Just Google the words – “Parents Goonies” and look at all the comments and reviews. At CommonSenseMedia– Many remember the movie through nostalgia but many others add in that they would never let their kids watch the movie until their children were much older than they were when they originally watched the movie. One parent stated that for a kids movie:

“…Not good….
We were excited to watch this with our kids but had to turn it off. Too many inappropriate situations and way too much swearing. Probably not a movie we will watch when they are older either..”

That was just one quote from one movie forum. I do get that there are parents today who need to shelter their kids from the harmful effects of modern media in every aspect. They cannot do this, but they do give it their best go at it. They are trying to be good parents, so they have major respect. And any parent trying to protect their child should be commended.

The Goonies is definitely unique since it is nothing in comparison to modern kids movies like Underdog Kids, or The Descendents, or even the Goosebumps movie for that matter. All of these movies have absolutely no cursing and you never really fear for the life of the children. The kids may also put their lives at risk in those movies but the viewer knows for a fact that they will come out on top. On the other hand in the Goonies, you think that Mouth may have his tongue cut off my the Mama Fratelli. Chunk almost had his hand ground up in a blender. That still gives me the chills. So there are times that it is scary.

If a kid has a smart phone, which all kids do have smart phones, they can literally browse and look at anything and everything they want. Even with parental locks, kids find a way around this. Something like the Goonies almost seem completely tame in comparison. But it is what it is. The movie is legendary and in my opinion, one of the greatest kid movies of all time. There are no super genius kids in it that can create a perfect AI or make a device that has interstellar travel capabilities, which many kids movies have today for some reason. There’s no super fighting kid that can somehow kick and punch an adult weighing over 200 lbs through a wall, which again, lots of kid movies now seem to have. The Fratelli’s aren’t mastermind criminals, but they are not bumbling idiots that are easily outsmarted by a 10 year old. Mama Fratelli is a frightening cunning, manipulative woman that still gives me the shivers. The story is an adventure that the child protagonists unknowingly embark on that turns into something so much more. The kids seem genuinely real and it almost feels like it could happen in real life. In the end, it’s a great movie. I hope that version is made with all the cut scenes are re-added to the movie. Even the cheesy octopus scene.

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1 thought on “When did The Goonies become TOO Adult for Kids to Watch?”

Will says:

January 15, 2016 at 3:58 pm

Well it is rated PG so unless your kid is 10 then parents should think about letting their kids see it, or find the airliner edit.

But there have been some articles over the past couple of years about how this generation of parents are much tighter with things like this then their parents were.