I hadn't seen The Golden Child since within a year or two of it first coming out, and I remembered a couple of things about it: firstly, that I'd rather enjoyed it, and secondly, that the only other people who had were those of approximately my own age at the time. I'm always interested in revisiting the films that fascinated me as a kid and finding out whether the spark of interest still remains - obviously people mature over time, but are our artistic sensibilities something we're somehow born with? I can certainly remember being nine or so and feeling a certain level of cynicism over the likes of Grease and Dirty Dancing, much to my mother's chagrin.
Getting back on topic, however, The Golden Child tells the story of Chandler Jarrell (Eddie Murphy), a self-described finder of lost children. Presumably he earns a living via cash rewards, or possibly he's capable of surviving on the sheer gratitude of the families he helps - I have no idea. After a TV appearance he is contacted by Kee Nang (Charlotte Lewis), who wants him to rescue a young Tibetan boy with mystic powers, who is apparently destined to bring peace to the world. Jarrell isn't entirely convinced by her story, but her beauty is enough to persuade him to try and help. A variety of perils ensue, varying from hostile bikers to Charles Dance as the devil's emissary, while Jarrell tolerates it all with the bemused good nature and casual prejudice that are a hallmark of Murphy's family films.
The good
Before watching, I was slightly worried that this one was going to be a flat-out stinker - anything from the 80s that deals in Eastern mysticism tends to carry that risk. It wasn't. It was a mildly diverting piece of fluff that holds up tolerably provided you're prepared to disengage a significant proportion of your higher functions. The performances are workmanlike, the set design was appealing and I got a massive kick from revisiting some of the special effects tricks that were prevalent at the time. There's nothing here that's particularly crass, and I think that in the right company, it could probably still constitute a fair afternoon's entertainment - at least, for the nostalgically-minded.The bad
I suppose my biggest quarrel with The Golden Child is that it's so incredibly, stonkingly lazy. I wouldn't go so far as to call it racist, but it makes repeated use of racial stereotypes as shorthand, so I suppose it depends on where your boundaries lie. So we have, therefore, the Chinese restaurant that hides various magical practices, and it's a given that anybody with even a vaguely Asian skintone will be resolutely enigmatic and, when the shit hit the fan, will know kung fu. Is this problematic? I'm not sure. Certainly it's nothing like as offensive as the likes of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, but it's the thin end of a very nasty wedge indeed.The same goes for the casual sexism. Again, this is presumably all part of Murphy's schtick and he's often the punchline of his own joke, but it irked me to see a beautiful, capable female character repeatedly save the day only to require rescuing when the time came for Jarrell to reveal his true self, who was apparently slightly less of a prick than his false self in that he didn't want to allow the woman he was lusting after to die. Yeah, there's some major altruism going on here.
To be honest, I suspect the problem might rest with wanting Eddie Murphy to play likeable. At his best, he's an inspired comedian, but not one who necessarily engenders any real warmth. The story tells us Jarrell is a good guy, but honestly? He comes across as a self-mythologising dick.
One final point: a quick check of the imdb reveals that while the titular Golden Child is a male character, he's actually portrayed by a little girl. I don't doubt that the production team played fast and loose with plenty of other aspects of Tibetan mythology, so is there any real reason we couldn't have had a female saviour for once?
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