The Goonies (NTSC) (1985) (NTSC) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | Adventure |
Main Menu Introduction Menu Animation & Audio Music Video-The Goonies 'R' Good Enough-Cyndi Lauper Theatrical Trailer Audio Commentary-Cast & Crew Listing-Cast & Crew Deleted Scenes Featurette-Making Of |
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Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 1985 | ||
Running Time | 113:50 (Case: 110) | ||
RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (56:09) | Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Menu | ||
Region Coding | 1,4 | Directed By | Richard Donner |
Studio
Distributor |
Warner Home Video |
Starring |
Sean Astin Josh Brolin Corey Feldman Jeff Cohen Kerri Green Martha Plimpton Johnathon Ke Quan |
Case | Amaray-Transparent | ||
RPI | $34.95 | Music | Dave Grusin |
Video (NTSC) | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) |
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Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
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Video Format | 480i (NTSC) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles |
English French Spanish Portuguese |
Smoking | Yes |
Annoying Product Placement | Yes, anyone for a Pepsi? | ||
Action In or After Credits | Yes, Credits roll over final scene |
The Goondocks, in Astoria, are being demolished to make way for a golf course and resort. A local bunch of kids, who have affectionately named themselves The Goonies, are not taking the news too kindly as this is their favourite place in the whole wide world. On a rainy day before the Goondocks were due to be demolished Mikey Walsh (Sean Astin), Brandon Walsh (Josh Brolin), Mouth (Corey Feldman), Chunk (Jeff Cohen), and Data (Johnathon Ke Quan) are bumming around the Walsh house feeling very depressed. On a whim they decide to go rummaging through the attic, out-of-bounds to all mind you, and 'stumble' across an ancient treasure map and doubloon depicting the whereabouts of One-Eyed Willie and his treasure.
Needless to say The Goonies see this as a great adventure, not to mention a chance to pay off foreclosing banks! Along the way they get mixed up with the Fratellis, some of the most bumbling 'evil' criminals ever to grace the silver screen. Ma Fratelli (Anne Ramsey) is the matriach with a firm controlling hand on Jake (Robert Davi), and Francis (Joe Pantoliano). Boy, is Ma one scary lady! The Goonies also come across Andy (Kerri Green) and Stef (Martha Plimpton). These two join the swelling ranks of The Goonies and help wend their way through the caves and booby traps laid by One-Eyed Willie centuries ago.
Throw into this movie mix the enigmatic, and gigantically huge, Sloth (John Matuszak), booby traps, high adventure, a blender, a few bats, an octopus (almost!), incredible treasure, a one-eyed pirate, falling boulders, the most amazing waterslide, a few skeletons, and a buccaneer fight aboard an ancient pirate sloop - what more do you want? This is a great movie that I am very pleased to have in my collection.
The Goonies is presented in the original cinematic aspect of 2.35:1, with 16x9 enhancement. It is great to see the 2.35:1 ratio being used as the cinematography is superb; the scenes captured by Nick McClean are very sumptuous and really show off the widescreen format.
Shadow detail is reasonable throughout. This is very fortunate, because the great majority of this movie is shot indoors, often in poor lighting. Sharpness is quite variable, often affected by quite high levels of grain. The most obvious occurences of grain can be seen around 10:50-12:00 where Mouth is showing the housekeeper, Rosalita, through the house. Many of these scenes have very high levels of grain. This is mostly a source issue and less the fault of the transfer. The remainder of the film attains quite good levels of sharpness, occasionally interspersed with low levels of grain.
Colour is very well saturated throughout. The clothes worn by The Goonies are mostly in bright colours and these shine through admirably. The only times when colours are a little drab occur when the grain sets in, most notably during the period outlined in the previous paragraph.
The film is mostly free of MPEG artefacts; there is some mild pixelisation in the opening sequence around the yacht masts, but that is all. Film-to-video artefacts are rife, particularly aliasing. Aliasing can be seen at 5:20 (house), 12:22 (bookcases), 24:02 (roof), the list goes on... Film artefacts are mild, nothing upsetting.
The English subtitles take a few shortcuts but are mostly accurate and well placed.
This is a RSDL formatted disc with the layer change occuring at 56:09. The placement is quite good without any detrimental effects on my enjoyment.
Sharpness | |
Shadow Detail | |
Colour | |
Grain/Pixelization | |
Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
Film Artefacts | |
Overall |
There are five audio tracks presented on this DVD. The two main tracks are an English Dolby Digital 5.1 track at 384kbps and an English Dolby Digital 2.0 audio commentary track at 192kbps. I listened to both. The other tracks seemed fine but as I couldn't understand the languages I did not listen to much.
As mentioned above the audio suffers from distortion. This is not terrible but is nonetheless disappointing. Some occasions where this is obvious can be found at 7:33, 14:00-15:00, and 26:15. The effects and music do not seem affected by this distortion and it is certainly not something to discourage the purchase of this disc.
Audio sync is generally fine except for the odd looped scene. Of particular note is when Brand steals the little girl's bike; she jumps up and down and screams, without moving her lips!
Music is a combination of compositions by Dave Grusin and 'contemporary' tracks from Cyndi Lauper. The score is excellent and timeless. I would like to say the same about Cyndi Lauper's music but I just can't. It does bring back fond childhood memories however!
The remastered 5.1 track on this DVD is quite good but suffers from a primarily frontal soundscape. This is to be expected, really. The score and ambient effects are the only real sounds to make their presence felt in the surround channels. The subwoofer does not get a lot of use but when called upon it responds admirably.
Dialogue | |
Audio Sync | |
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The video quality is good but marginally disappointing
The audio quality is good but should have been better.
The extras are good.
Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Pioneer DV-535, using Component output |
Display | Loewe Xelos 5381ZW. Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
Amplification | Onkyo TX-DS787, THX Select |
Speakers | All matching Vifa Drivers: centre 2x6.5" + 1" tweeter (d'appolito); fronts and rears 6.5" + 1" tweeter; centre rear 5" + 1" tweeter; sub 10" (150WRMS) |