“The Golden Child” is riddled with clichés, boasts no shortage of plot-holes, and doesn't stop far short of being just plain ridiculous. But hey as long as it's entertaining, who cares, right? I loved this movie as a kid, and I'm not about to go back on that now.
Though slated by the critics upon its' cinema release in 1986, audiences lapped up Eddie Murphy's performance in this mystical romp, his first outing since the massive “Beverly Hills Cop” two years earlier. Murphy plays Chandler Jarrell who is, to all intents and purposes, Axel Foley with a different job description. He's a wise-cracking (natch) do-gooder who makes a living out of tracking down missing kiddy-winks and helping the police investigate kidnappings.
Jarrell's in for a Hellish time when the beautifully wooden Charlotte Lewis (who used to be in Grange Hill!) turns up and tells him he's “The Chosen One”. Quite a chat-up line, you'll probably agree. Unfortunately, as well as the inevitable rumpy-pumpy, it means he's been “chosen” to traipse across to Tibet and rescue a magical munchkin (J.L. Reate) from a villainous demon who appears, hideously, in the form of Charles Dance. Makes me shiver just thinking about it.
There's an “Axel F”-ish score, some decent special fx, and a woman who's ancestor was raped by a dragon and is now paying the consequences. It's all good fun and, interestingly enough, was released in the same year as “Big Trouble in Little China”. Both movies work along very similar lines, and both also feature James Hong and squint-faced small-fry Victor Wong. But it's “The Golden Child” that works best, predominantly down to Murphy's sheer enthusiasm and comic timing.