The Golden Child

Plot

In a remote Tibetan temple, a young boy with mystical powers revives a dead eastern rosella, which becomes his companion. The man Sardo Numspa has his men slaughter the monks and abduct the boy. Kee Nang, a young woman, watches a Los Angeles TV show where independent social worker and private detective Chandler Jarrell discusses a missing girl named Cheryll Mosley. Kee tells Chandler he is the chosen one who must save the Golden Child.

Chandler is skeptical, even after a bird follows him and he sees an astral projection of the child. Cheryll is found dead near an abandoned house with Tibetan graffiti and blood-soaked oatmeal. Kee reveals the house was a holding place for the child and introduces Chandler to Doctor Hong and Kala, a half-dragon, half-woman creature. Chandler and Kee track a motorcycle gang and Chinese restaurant owner Tommy Tong, a henchman of Numspa to whom Cheryll was sold for her blood.

Tong is killed by Numspa. Numspa draws Chandler into a controlled dream and demands the Ajanti Dagger in exchange for the boy. Chandler agrees, and he and Kee spend the night together. They travel to Tibet, where Chandler is swindled by an amulet seller later revealed as the High Priest and Kee's father.

To obtain the dagger, Chandler must carry a glass of water through an obstacle course without spilling a drop. He recovers the blade and brings it into the United States.

Production

Dennis Feldman, a professional photographer whose only writing credit was Just One of the Guys, wrote a script called The Rose of Tibet, planned as a Raymond Chandler movie with supernatural elements. Paramount Pictures purchased the script for $330,000 after a bidding war. Feldman intended a detective story, not a comedy, and thought of Mel Gibson for the lead. John Carpenter was offered the director role but chose Big Trouble in Little China instead.

Eddie Murphy met with George Miller to direct. J. L. Reate, the actor who played the Golden Child, was actually a girl named Jasmine Lauren Reate, six years old when filming began; this was her only theatrical performance, and she later became executive director of events at the Toronto Film Festival. Special effects used CGI, stop motion, and go motion.

Music

Alan Silvestri was originally sought for the score but turned it down. Paramount then turned to John Barry, who composed a score but left during post-production due to differences with producers and test screening feedback. The producers replaced Barry's score with one by Michel Colombier, mostly synthpop with some orchestral passages. Some of Barry's cues remain in the final cut, and one track, Wisdom of the Ages, appeared on the first soundtrack release by Capitol Records.

In 2011, La-La Land Records released a limited-edition 3-CD set containing both Barry's mostly unused score and Colombier's theatrical score, plus an exclusive Barry-composed song sung by Randy Edelman. A stand-alone release of Barry's original score was issued by La-La Land in 2026. Other music in the film includes songs by Ann Wilson, Meli'sa Morgan, Ashford & Simpson, Martha Davis, Ratt, Marlon Jackson, Robbie Buchanan, and John Barry, as well as Puttin' on the Ritz and Another Day's Life.

Reception

Released in December 1986, The Golden Child was a box office success, earning $79,817,937 in the United States and becoming the eighth biggest film of the year. Eddie Murphy remarked in 1989 that despite his feelings about the film, it made more than $100 million. However, it did not meet Paramount's expectations compared to Murphy's previous film Beverly Hills Cop, which grossed $234,760,478. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 21% based on 28 reviews, with an average rating of 4.4/10.

On Metacritic, it has a score of 37 out of 100 based on 12 critics, indicating generally unfavorable reviews. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave it an average grade of B. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars, praising its funnier and more assured tone and Murphy's underlying sweetness. Leonard Maltin cited the film as a BOMB, calling it a top candidate for the worst megahit of all time. Janet Maslin of The New York Times described it as a comedy without laughs.

Writer Dennis Feldman was disappointed, feeling the script should have been taken more seriously and criticizing director Michael Ritchie.