---
title: "The Golden Child: the reviews"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-golden-child/reviews"
title_page: "https://film.one/film/the-golden-child"
critics_score: 38
critics_reviews: 7
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# The Golden Child (1986): what the critics said

Critics' score 38 from 7 reviews: 0 positive, 3 mixed, 4 negative.

The reviews lean negative, with most critics finding that The Golden Child struggles to make its comedy and fantasy adventure work together. Praise is limited to individual performers rather than the film’s handling of either genre. The Los Angeles Times credits Eddie Murphy’s comic skills and finds brief relief in his scenes with Victor Wong, while Empire singles out Charles Dance as a respectable villain who would suit darker material.

The reservations differ more in emphasis than in severity: some reviews focus on incompatible styles, others on weak jokes and muddled storytelling. Radio Times finds that Murphy’s quick-fire delivery falls flat and faults Michael Ritchie’s direction, whereas Variety objects particularly to the special-effects monsters and the mixture of mysticism and sentimentality. The scores span mixed to strongly negative, but the two highest-scored entries have no accessible verdicts, so they offer no confirmed counterargument to the prevailing disappointment.

## The New York Times — Janet Maslin

Fi1m's normalised score 64/100 (inferred from the text). 12 December 1986. 

The page does not expose the review text, so its verdict cannot be confirmed. No specific praise or complaint is available from the accessible content.

[Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/12/movies/screen-golden-child.html)

## Time Out — CPea

Fi1m's normalised score 64/100 (inferred from the text). 

The available description presents the film as an attempt to combine martial-arts thrills with a Hollywood comic thriller. The page provides no accessible critic verdict or specific praise or complaint.

[Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-golden-child)

## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert

Rating 2/4. 12 December 1986. 

Ebert finds the film an unsuccessful comedy-adventure. The review objects to the mismatch between its fantasy-adventure plot and comedy.

[Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-golden-child-1986)

## Radio Times — John Ferguson

Rating 2/5. 

Ferguson finds the comedy adventure mediocre and says Murphy’s performance cannot save it. He singles out Murphy’s quick-fire quips for falling flat and describes Michael Ritchie’s direction as indifferent.

[Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-ukrx1a/the-golden-child/)

## Empire — Gavin Bainbridge

Fi1m's normalised score 20/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. 

The critic finds the film an unsuccessful mix of incompatible styles and themes. Charles Dance is singled out as a respectable villain, though the critic thinks he would have suited darker material.

[Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/golden-child-review/)

## Los Angeles Times — MICHAEL WILMINGTON

Fi1m's normalised score 15/100 (inferred from the text). 12 December 1986. 

Wilmington finds the film a flabby disappointment, with jokes that fall flat and action that curdles. He praises Murphy’s comic skills but says the script gives them little to work with, singling out the brief scenes with Victor Wong as an exception.

[Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-12-12-ca-2478-story.html)

## Variety — Variety Staff

Fi1m's normalised score 10/100 (inferred from the text). 31 December 1985. 

The review pans the film as incoherent and an unsuccessful mixture of disparate elements. It particularly objects to the dragged-in special-effects monsters and the story’s muddled combination of mysticism and sentimentality.

[Read the review](https://variety.com/1985/film/reviews/the-golden-child-1200426766/)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/the-golden-child.md