The Goonies (1985) (and a quick tangent on The Avengers (2012) musical theme )
it's interesting watching this now vs when i was a kid. I had two simultaneous tracks going through my head - the nostalgia part of me that felt some sort of warm fuzziness when watching it as if it was an old security blanket, and the current part of me that kept on thinking, "yeah, this is pretty problematic."
But approach it in its context of coming from the mid-80s, suspend all sorts of disbelief, and you can say at least that it's a fun film with some pretty great moments. Some of the action scenes are fantastic, and even though a few of the characters fell into the "let's embody this stereotype as much as we can for the sake of humor," Sean Astin's character was pretty fantastic and he did a great job with the role. Given the choice between this sort of kid's movie classic versus, say, the embarrassing Transformers efforts by Michael Bay, and it's a no-brainer.
Something that i didn't appreciate back then but appreciate much more now is how masterful the soundtrack was. There's one moment in particular where Data is about to do some sort of Data thing, and his musical theme gets quoted in the context of the music that's already happening, and it made me perk up. To first establish the connection between Data's antics and the music is what made that possible, created an expectation that could be used in more subtle and streamlined ways later.
Maybe that's an easy connection to make, but it's also something that lazy or written-too-fast soundtracks can neglect, which, tangentially, is why i also appreciate the most recent Avengers soundtrack moment because the Avengers Theme was played in a very definitive and established way during the quick title screen, but you didn't hear it again until that one memorable scene towards the end where the camera rotated around and showed all of the Avengers in a group for the first time. To me, that's the sort of stuff that's very, "well DUH", but it was still satisfying from a primal perspective when i experienced it for the first time, and it's nice to know that it's not just obvious to me as a musical creator that that's clearly what should have happened and to have done well enough that it has the desired effect and impact on the audience whether they realize it or not.