The Golden Child (1986)

“So, I gotta go to Tibet, because I’m the Chosen One. Why can’t anybody choose me to go to the Bahamas? ” – Chandler Jarrell

Number of Times Seen – 1 (16 Feb 2020)

Brief Synopsis – A private detective is hired to find a kidnapped child with secret powers.

My Take on it – This is an Eddie Murphy film that I recall hearing about when it first came out 34 years ago yet never had any real desire to see what it was all about.

In my recent quest to watch more Eddie Murphy films, I decided to finally give it a try.

Unfortunately, this is a really bad film which fails to work on so many levels.

I’m actually surprised that after making a hit like Beverly Hills Cop (1984), Murphy would choose to make this film.

This film’s premise tries to take the wisecracking character that Murphy is bets known for and place him in a story tat deals with a mystical story line.

It’s too bad that things never seem to come together and this kind of story line probably would have worked much better as a action adventure film instead of one with too much of a comic undertone which hurts things too much.

The plot is filled with too many plot holes which also take so much away from the enjoyment of things here.

This, in turn, takes away from any kind of real impact that this film’s story could potentially have.

The story moves along in a really strange way and isn’t able to find its groove at all which would help make things more interesting instead of boring and silly the whole way through.

Bottom Line – Really mediocre Murphy headlined film. The story is pretty silly and the added fact that they chose to make this a comedy doesn’t help at all. The film isn’t able to stay plausible in what it tries to deliver and that hurts things too much along the way. The are far too many plot holes that make little sense and take away from any kind of real impact that this story could have possibly had. This film is quite boring in all that it does and fails to find a way to keep things interesting especially since it all comes across as being too silly from start to finish.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – The film was intended as a serious adventure drama, with Mel Gibson in the lead role. After Gibson turned the film down and Eddie Murphy replaced him, the script was rewritten as a partial comedy. (From IMDB)

Rating –Razzie Worthy (4/10)