This movie reminded me of the OLD Hollywood factory studio action kid cliff hangers (Gasp! for air...) that I saw weekly when a kid myself. Except they were all chained together in one showing and it had a script: Cecil B. DeMille, D.W. Griffith. I mean MORE than just a shooting script & some stock old dependable tomes. It's production values are very high rather than just stunts to hook kids. Great special effects & story continuity of seemingly disparate characters, animals & even props. I like Eddie Murphy. I like his genius for letting us in on the joke. He can break the fourth barrier without hurting or stopping the movie and in fact emphasizing something important to the movie's if not his own POV. No small gift of acting talent: Buster Keaton. The movie as a story peaks frequently like a good serial but finally all at once without the genre's space-time deceptions. At times the writer says very important things about children & how adults should regard them. I've been to Asia & Nepal couple of times on military & diplomatic missions during war & just the Cold War. As an adult supervising my kid & his friends on a Saturday afternoon, several characters delivered lines about Murphy's actions that were distracting. A Buddha-like character said after Murphy diminished the importance of Murphy's character's defining actions during an action scene, "(Individual) Americans should be aware of how powerful they are in the world!" Like the Hollywood star: Eddie Murphy. God Bless the United States of America. My kid & his friends enjoyed it as well.

I dunno what it is about this movie that draws comparisons to "Big Trouble in Little China". Same year of release, similar east-west collision, a like-minded plunge into a bizarre underworld . . . But its hero is completely different. Eddie Murphy puts his comedic talents to likable use here, playing a capable P.I. who's dragged into something that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. A smartass who's always quick with a snide observation. But he's also a solid physical presence, and when pushed , can believably put some punk in a hurt locker. I walked into this thinking Charles Dance would steal the movie (he's surprisingly muted here), but this is an Eddie Murphy vehicle. And that's a good thing. 7/10

Eddie Murphy had two exceptionally good comedies in the first three years of his film career. But since "Trading Places" in 1983 and "Beverly Hills Cop" in 1984, only a few of his movies haven't fizzled. And those that didn't fizzle were just average. "The Golden Child" is in that group. In most of his films, Murphy plays with very few well-known actors. That's the case in this early film that came right on the heels of his two big hit movies. The lack of other name performers may say something about the material Murphy has to work with in most of his films. Either Murphy or his agent (or both) have a bad sense of judgment about what may be a good project for a hit movie. The plot of "The Golden Child" had some possibilities, but the story jumps all over the place. The script is weak, and the direction, filming and editing are poor. The most interesting and entertaining aspects of the film involve the young monk, the golden child, played by Jasmine Reate.In 2015, Eddie Murphy still has some years of acting ahead. One would hope he would land some good scripts and be able to entertain us again with some crisp, funny and engrossing comedies.

The Golden Child is a very mediocre movie with a storyline that is actually pretty promising storyline but fails to be interesting because of a not so inspired cast.Edie Murphy did do a good enough job,but he was the only member of the cast that seemed like he actually liked this films script and was enthusiastic about being in this movie.I think that the story sounded really good and if they had made it a bit more serious and less comedy and got a more serious cast it could have been really interesting,I think that it was a bad decision making it a comedy.It is funny at times,but honestly not enough,and because of that I wouldn't really recommend the Golden Child to anyone. A private eye who specializes in finding missing children is called in to track down the peace bringing Golden Child,who has been kidnapped by a Tibetan temple.