‘The Goonies’ has Steven Spielberg’s fingerprints all over it. Although directed by Richard Donner from a story by Spielberg and a screenplay by Chris Columbus, it shares many of the themes that run throughout Spielberg’s work: children who are underestimated by adults, groups of young outsiders who band together, and extraordinary adventures that ultimately restore family and community. Like ‘E.T.’, it celebrates childhood resourcefulness, suggesting that children often understand far more than the grown-ups around them.

The story follows a group of self-proclaimed misfits whose homes are threatened with demolition by property developers. Faced with losing not only their houses but the world in which they have grown up, they embark on one last adventure after discovering an old pirate treasure map. What follows is an exhilarating journey through booby-trapped tunnels, hidden caverns and underground chambers that feels like a cinematic theme-park ride long before ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ became a film franchise in its own right.

Richard Donner directs with infectious enthusiasm, and there are pleasing nods to his earlier work. At one point, one of the characters reveals a Superman T-shirt beneath his clothes, a playful wink to the audience reminding us that Donner had directed ‘Superman: The Movie’. Meanwhile, Chris Columbus’s screenplay anticipates many of the ideas he would later develop in films such as ‘Home Alone’ and ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’. Once again we find children exploring sprawling houses filled with secret passages, hidden compartments and opportunities for adventure. This is very much an ‘adults keep out’ story, where children solve problems through courage, ingenuity and teamwork while the adults remain largely oblivious.

Of course, no Spielberg-inspired adventure would be complete without danger. The children must evade the criminal Fratelli family, whose pursuit provides much of the film’s comic tension, while also navigating collapsing caves, deadly traps and long-forgotten pirate secrets. Like Captain Hook in ‘Peter Pan’, the villains represent the adult world intruding upon childhood imagination, forcing the young heroes to grow up without quite surrendering their sense of wonder.

The emotional stakes are surprisingly strong because the treasure hunt is never really about becoming rich. Instead, it is about preserving home, memory and childhood itself. By the end, the children return to the real world having acquired the confidence and ingenuity to save not only themselves but also the adults who had largely dismissed their fears from the outset.

One aspect that sits rather uneasily today is the treatment of Sloth, the physically deformed member of the Fratelli family. Initially hidden away in the cellar and presented almost as a grotesque spectacle, much of the early humour comes at his expense in a way that would probably not be acceptable now. Yet the film ultimately subverts those expectations. Sloth proves to possess more kindness and humanity than almost anyone else in the story, rescuing the children from his own criminal family and becoming an unlikely hero. His eventual adoption by one of the boys is certainly heartwarming, even if it raises one or two practical questions.

If I have one criticism, it is that Chris Columbus gives every child so much dialogue, often delivered simultaneously, that parts of the opening feel rather chaotic. Characters frequently talk over one another to the point where conversations become difficult to follow. Unlike ‘E.T.’, where Spielberg allows us to develop deep emotional connections with Elliott and his family, ‘The Goonies’ treats its young cast more as an energetic ensemble. They’re great fun to spend time with, but I never felt I knew them individually quite as well, or cared about them quite as deeply, once the adventure was over.

Even so, ‘The Goonies’ remains one of the defining family adventures of the 1980s. It’s funny, inventive and full of the infectious belief that childhood should be a time of exploration, imagination and impossible quests. Beneath the pirate ships, treasure maps and secret tunnels lies a surprisingly touching story about friendship, belonging and the determination to protect the places that shape who we are.