Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		2.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.0

Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman March 8, 2021

There's not a lot that's new or noteworthy in Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain, a girl-centric Adventure film in which two new friends, from disparate backgrounds and life experiences, bond in their search for hidden treasure and through the ebbs and flows, the highs and the lows, the lights and the darkness, of life. Though the film is apparently an original work written for the screen, it screams "novel." The material is clearly wanting for more breathing room, for more thoughtful exposition, for deeper exploration not of the superficial story beats but rather in the intimate character details and the strings that bind them together. It's crudely effective as a film but one can imagine while watching the greater allowances and opportunities for purpose in prose, for the greater depth and breadth the written word could afford the material.

Widow Kate Easton (Polly Draper) and her daughter Beth (Christina Ricci) have moved to idyllic Washington state from Los Angeles. For Beth it's culture shock. For Kate it's a return home. Kate, an author, thrives back in her old hometown; she's fixing up the house and reconnecting with an old boyfriend (Brian Kerwin). For Beth, it's a more difficult transition. It's made easier when she meets local outcast and tomboy Jody Salerno (Anna Chlumsky). The two quickly bond. For Beth, Jody is a much needed friend. For Jody, Beth is an escape from an alcoholic mother and her abusive boyfriend (Diana Scarwid and David Keith). The two further bond when they set out on a quest to find hidden treasure that local legend says is buried deep inside a mountain where danger awaits, friendships are forged, and maybe even real treasure awaits.

The film is by no means poor, but it's not quite proficient in the fine art of storytelling, character building, anything that's a critical component to crafting a compelling cinematic experience. The film is well capable of lining up the components but not so astute when it comes time to develop them to its own needs or to their fullest potential. There's an air of generic staleness to it as the backstories are formed and the characters interact. Drama is tepid, action is rarely engaging, and there's little mystery or feel for the currents that will lead the characters on their story and through the trials they face. The issue here is that the material is wanting something meatier, more purposeful. The film can't escape its superficialities and never does enough to fully invest its audience in these girls or their story. Maybe that's why this reviewer, at least, feels the story would be better suited to the page rather than as it appears on the screen. It feels as if corners we cut, sacrifices made, components surrendered in the name of making something to "fit" a certain string of movie parameters.

The film's technical components leave a bit to be desired as well. Production design is flat with unconvincing sets amidst the beautiful wilderness locations (rendered inert thanks to a particularly poor Blu-ray image; see below), particularly in the cave where Beth becomes trapped. Further, the film is not fully capable of fully drawing the audience into the story, rather leaving the viewer feeling detached and uninvolved, unlike a film such as, say, The Goonies where the audience feels fully invested in the characters and as if a participant in the action and adventure. But all that is not to say the film is bad. The essential components form a competent film that tells a halfway worthwhile story, one that just needs more production polish and scriptwriting finesse to allow it to shine. Leads Ricci and Chlumsky are fine, playing well off of one another's character strengths and weaknesses and building a believable, if not almost fully authentic, bond that leads them to friendship and adventure. Their screen chemistry more so than the written script aids their performances, and they are ultimately the top reason to give the movie a watch.

Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain's 1080p transfer is but fool's gold. The picture is clearly in a state of distress. Soft and fuzzy edges are commonplace. Compression artifacts appear in abundance, rendering backgrounds clumpy and unattractive. The image has been scrubbed and scrubbed some more, yielding a waxy smooth artificiality rather than a grainy and organic cinematic delight. Faces have been wiped of most all of their natural complexities, replaced by a smooth façade that is bereft of all but the very finest in textural niceties. Unfortunately, the majesty of the Washington state wilderness locales is lost on the Blu-ray. The picture looks like a painting (and there are a couple of introductory shots of Gold Mountain that are paintings, some of the least convincing matte inserts ever seen in a film) and often a fairly crude one at that. It's a shame to see trees reduced to smears and other natural elements succumb to the source destruction. Colors are fair enough, at least, yielding adequate depth and brightness. There's little nuance at play and certainly no real lifelike dazzle, but broad stroke greens, colorful clothes, and the worn paints around the Easton family's new home are acceptably presented. Skin tones are pasty and black levels are not fully convincing. Color output is not so poor as the textural definition (or severe lack thereof) but it's also rudimentary at best. There's certainly a very nice looking film at its point of origin, but this transfer has rendered the film's inherent beauty and film-based state to a shell of its true glory.

Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain unearths its audio on Blu-ray via a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. There's good and not-so-good here. The 5.1 track may not approach, never mind reach, peak sonic clarity (the bad) but it's very aggressive as it is and well capable of showering the listener with plenty of examples of fun, discrete sound effects that take full advantage of every channel in the configuration (the good). The track offers great expansion and aggression when a mine caves in during a flashback scene at the 31-minute mark. The effect is not fully lifelike in detail but, crunchy as it may be, it's effective enough in context. There are many such examples of the track really bellowing out its wares and giving for all it's worth. The sound design is a bit dated, favoring that aggression over subtlety and balance, and it is sometimes a little overbearing. But credit it for not holding back, even if it means a sacrifice in fidelity and authenticity. There's no shortage of surround usage on any occasion when the rears are called into action, and likewise the subwoofer does not get a movie off here, either. Lighter ambient fill is pleasing if not a little rough around the edges. Music soars for volume but lacks absolute finesse. Dialogue is clear and plays from the center, though sometimes in slight disbalance with the rest of the track, sounding slightly timid rather than forceful and confident.

Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain contains no supplemental content. The main menu screen, which features the same image as the top half of the "Retro VHS" slipcover, offers only options to play the film and toggle subtitles on and off. No DVD or digital copies are included with purchase.

Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain has some nuggets of goodness on offer but much of the movie is but fool's gold. The picture feels stymied by its own format; the story needs more room to breathe and it just seems as if it would be better suited to the written page rather than the silver screen. The script is on track but not on point, the characters are a bit generic but given solid performances from the leads, and the direction and editing feel effective yet uninspired. It doesn't help that the Blu-ray looks bad and that the sound, for as active as it can be, is sometimes overbearing and not really all that realistically detailed. No extras are included, either. Skip it.