The Golden Child (1986)

Director: Michael Ritchie

Starring: Eddie Murphy, J.L. Reate, Charles Dance

A private detective specializing in missing children is charged with the task of finding a special child whom dark forces want to eliminate.

Against my better judgment, I decided to watch ‘The Golden Child’. I should have listened to my instinct…

The film doesn’t start off too bad. Eddie Murphy is hilarious, with that infectious laugh. He stars as Chandler Jarrell, a detective. I enjoyed his naïve notions, which he did so fantastically well. We follow Chandler as he investigates the disappearance of a young girl, and is then approached by a mysterious client to find a ‘special’ boy – referred to as the Golden boy – who has been kidnapped.

Kee Nang (Charlotte Lewis) is the film’s heroin, but unfortunately this character was bland, with wood-faced unconvincing acting from Charlotte Lewis. This character had so much potential, but completely ruined by bad acting and bad directing. Speaking of bland, my oh my, the Golden Boy was as passive as could be. He did almost NOTHING in this entire movie, apart from sit. Yup, SIT, as in sitting down. For the entire movie, this child was just sitting on a big cushion, rolling his eyes, and pointing a finger whenever he deemed it necessary to use magic. Seriously??? Yawn, see me roll my eyes in disbelief at how stupid this was…

Some of the comedic scenes are overdone, and then there’s the romance I found distracting. I did enjoy the adventure element, but that’s about it. Charles Dance wasn’t too bad as the antagonist, but what the hell was that ending with that bad visuals??

In general, this film suffers from very bad directing. Eddie Murphy was by far the film’s highlight, but not enough to make it interesting enough for me. ‘The Golden Child’ is an odd mix of comedy, fantasy, adventure, and – later – even horror elements.

‘The Golden Child’ earned nearly $80 million on a $25 million budget.

Would I watch it again? No.