The Golden Child

There are a lot of moments to remember in The Golden Child, but the one I will treasure the longest happens when Eddie Murphy gets behind the wheel of a beat-up station wagon and is led by a sacred parakeet to the lair of the devil.

It's not awful; it isn't dull. But The Golden Child is a kids' film, and there are times when Murphy himself seems uncomfortable, as if he knows he's making a movie he wouldn't pay to see. [13 Dec 1986, p.B1]

After his triumphant Beverly Hills Cop, Eddie Murphy could have done anything. Why, then, did he choose to head for the mysterious Orient to make a film as rich in mumbo jumbo as The Golden Child? Mr. Murphy's comic skepticism in the face of all this is the film's greatest asset. But it is worn thin by the awareness that not even he seems able to take the adventure seriously, and by the preposterousness and inconsistency of what surrounds him.

A strange hybrid of Far Eastern mysticism, treacly sentimentality, diluted reworkings of Eddie Murphy’s patented confrontation scenes across racial and cultural boundaries, and dragged-in ILM (Industrial Light & Magic) special effects monsters, film makes no sense on any level.

The Golden Child is certainly not a Michael Ritchie movie - the talented director of Smile and The Candidate is never more than a referee in the war between the special effects and the star. The special effects win, which is no victory, but the star is not knocked out. [13 Dec 1986, p.F5]

Though an expensive production, padded out with special effects and side- trips to Nepal, it fails to achieve any grandeur or dash. Murphy seems to be present mainly to mock the film's pretentions and shoddy plotting, as if the producers deliberately had chosen a piece of third-rate pulp, pumped millions of dollars into it, and then brought in Murphy to make them look stupid. [22 Dec 1986, p.75]

Toying with themes too serious for it and stars too big for it, this fantasy is incalculably less than the sum of it's parts.

The movie is regarded as Eddie Murphys early failure or at least weaker performance by many. However while it will not end on my favorite movie list I liked the movie. To be honest it has some weak scenes, lengths and a weaker performance by Eddie Murphy compared to “Beverly Hills Cop” or “Coming to America”. This means not that it is garbage. It is just weaker but still enjoyable The story starts in a remote monastery in Tibet where a mysterious child showed incredible abilities. The monastery is shortly after attacked by a group lead by a strange man named Sardo Numspa who captures the child. Meanwhile in the USA the social worker Chandler who is specialized in finding missing children is contacted to find a child. I stop here to avoid spoilers. The movie is a fantasy adventure comedy. It is mostly entertaining and worked out for me. Again I have to say it is not amazing or awesome (just good). The actors are fine. Eddie Murphy is still entertaining even if he is a bit weaker. Victor Wong and Charlotte Lewis were remarkably good and I have to praise Charles Dance performance as bad guy Sardo Numsa. The humor is fine and kept me entertained. Compared to modern spoof movies it is pure gold but compared to better movies it is weaker (Hard to rate or describe). The special effects aged a bit but worked back then. Cant be hold against the movie to be fair. Overall I think it is better than people give credit. Not a masterpiece but worth watching. I give a 7/10.

Literally one of the funniest films that I have ever seen. And definitely my favorite Eddie Murphy flick of all-time...

Eddie Murphy in his prime. Great comedy of course and the story and action are good enough to keep the viewer interested.