A private detective specializing in missing children is charged with the task of finding a special child whom dark forces want to eliminate.
Eddie Murphy plays Chandler Jarrell, a social worker who specializes in finding missing children. A mysterious woman named Kee Nang (Charlotte Lewis) comes to him for help in rescuing the golden child (played by J.L. Reate), who was kidnapped in Tibet and possesses magical powers, most noticeably the ability to revive the dead.
A young Charles Dance plays the villain, Sardo Numspa, in this film. He is also magical, but we do not ever find out how he got his powers or what he is exactly. I think his character might actually be a demon or is at least a Satanist. I am honestly not too sure. His minions are also weird, one is an apparent monkey man.
Eddie Murphy plays the fish-out-of-water character and does so joyously. He is “the chosen one,” who is destined to watch and protest the golden child. His reactions to the mystical elements that get revealed to him more and more throughout the film were a definite highlight. I was a fan of his relationship with Kee Nang as well and think they had decent chemistry together. However, it is apparent that she is treated like an object as she has a scene where she is fighting bad guys in her underwear, in what is supposed to be a kid’s movie.
I would say my biggest gripe with the film is that we did not see the personality of this golden child, he is mostly just a stoic figure. I do not remember any lines he has in the film, not to mention he barely shares any scenes with Murphy himself. He is only special because he has powers.
The magical aspects of the film could have been fleshed out and explained more but were sadly just boring. The magic does add to the stakes of the film, but it was not the point of interest for me. The CGI looks like it was revamped, but still feels dated. This is an ’80s movie though, so that is to be expected. I also really like the film’s score, it reminded me of the theme for “Knight Rider” but had an oriental spin to it.
Overall, I dug the Los Angeles scenes where Murphy is doing some normal investigating rather than the magical stuff that happens in Tibet. But while I was not a big fan of the mystical elements, I was entertained by this film and thought Murphy was funny in it. I would recommend “The Golden Child” if you are in an ’80s mood and could go for something mindless, but humorous.
Now available on Blu-ray from the Paramount Presents line
