The Golden Child

by George C. Chesbro

A novelization of the Eddie Murphy film, based on the screenplay by Dennis Feldman

Genres: Fantasy, Media Tie In, Demons

221 pages, Paperback

First published December 15, 1986

About the author

George C. Chesbro was an American author of detective fiction. His most notable works feature Dr. Robert "Mongo the Magnificent" Fredrickson, a private detective with dwarfism. He also wrote the novelization of The Golden Child, a movie of the same name starring Eddie Murphy.

Chesbro was born in Washington, D.C. He worked as a special education teacher at Pearl River and later at rockland Psychiatric Center, where he worked with trouble teens. Chebro was married and had one daughter and two step-daughters.

Reviews

[Malcolm Cox · Rating 3 out of 5]

As stated on the book's cover this is based off of one of the screenplays and not the final film. The film was originally intended to have Mel Gibson lead and be a more serious film. Instead it became what I consider to be one of Eddie Murphy's most underrated films. It's not his best, but it's far better than people give it credit for.
Anyway, I'm reviewing this book, not the movie, but I can't help but compare the two. As it was a movie first, I'm not going to review the quality of the story but focus more on the extra content, the writing and relevance to the movie it's based from.
Although the plot and the sequence of events remain largely unchanged, albeit much darker and visceral, none of the quotable lines or scenes from the film feature in the book. Despite Eddie Murphy being on the front cover, Chandler is no way Eddie Murphy in this book (nor Mel Gibson actually but more Charlie Sheen).
There is further discussion about the Songs of Reality and Existence and good and evil, as well as the motivations behind much of went on. I can see why all that wasn't included in the film, but it does flesh out the world a bit more.
I did feel that on a couple of occasions the screenplay to novel transition was a bit rushed. Sometimes it would read as if it were a screenplay without all the prose that makes a novel a novel and a few of the scene transitions happened without any explanation.
Certainly this is a book that benefits if you've seen the movie first. Unfortunately, due to the character differences between the two, the book doesn't really add much of anything to the film as all the internal thoughts and feelings are for a completely different version of Chandler which, in turn, altered the character of Kee Nang, though by not as much.

[Leila Anani · Rating 3 out of 5]

As movie novelizations go, The Golden Child falls right in the middle of the pile. It's based on the original screenplay, so while for the most part it follows the film exactly, there are some differences

The biggest difference is the character of Chandler Jarrell - the character was not specifically written for Eddie Murphy and when he came to the project he put his own spin and a whole lot of ad libs to it. So most of the quotable lines and humour are missing. Scenes like the TV interview are completely omitted. The initial character sketch was a weary PI - he's named Chandler after Raymond Chandler.... I think the first actor suggestion was Mel Gibson, although the screenplay draft this is based on is obviously later than that because Chandler is dark skinned and the biker thugs use the N-word to insult him. But he's still no Eddie Murphy.

The novel does flesh a few things out - I love the nature of the songs, those that sing and the three different dimensions (which basically seem to be heaven, earth and hell, but with an Asian mystical twist). Motivations are also a bit more solid.

Writing is fine; there aren't too many mistakes and this is really pacey, although in some cases a little too much so and you can clearly see its been adapted from a screenplay as there are abrupt changes in scene rather than smooth linking narrative. Particularly towards the end it feels very rushed indeed.

This also doesn't have any stills from the film which is disappointing for fans. Many novelizations of this era have an insert in the middle with photos, either stills or production - Nothing like that here, its just the novelization with no bells or whistles.

Over all I enjoyed it, but I think it really helps if you've seen the film first as the reader does have to do some of the work in picturing the characters. If you're unfamiliar with Eddie Murphy in the role then the character of Chandler falls somewhat flat from the novel alone. Still there's plenty here for fans of the movie and its worth checking out.

[Bill Yarbrough · Rating 5 out of 5]

9 out of 10. Fantasy binge read. I enjoyed this one.

[Spraying Bricks · Rating 2 out of 5]

A rare case of when the film is better than the book. But I suppose that when written retrospectively to the screenplay it is no surprise.

[Marijan Šiško · Rating 3 out of 5]

iskreno, film je bolji.