Hook Review

3 out of 5

Adventure, Family, Fantasy

The Verdict

Thumbs Up: Stream It

Families and anyone with nostalgia for the Peter Pan story. It’s rated PG for fantasy action.

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Synopsis

Peter Banning (Williams), is a very successful lawyer whose relationship with his kids are very strained. He’s a busy lawyer and cannot make good on his promises to his family. One night a mysterious group of pirates come into the house and kidnaps Peter’s kids. The kidnappers leave a dagger behind with a very familiar name. Peter must travel to Neverland in order to rescue his children from Captain Hook (Hoffman).

Spoiler Warning!!! Full Review Below

Full Review (Spoilers)

Producers: Frank Marshall

The Good

The message behind the movie was good. It talked about growing up, being responsible and forgiving.

Julia Roberts gave a decent performance as Tinkerbell. Not much else could be said besides it wasn’t horrible.

The big meal scene was the best scene in this movie. Peter started to believe again and it made the imaginary food come alive. It was a nice use of movie magic.

The action scenes were enjoyable. The lost boys had an appropriate fighting style. It was a mix between childish and semi-practical. The best weapon in their arsenal was the eat shooter.

The Bad

Even though this movie had a good message, the plot itself wasn’t good at all. The thought of Peter Pan growing up in a foster home is ridiculous. The idea of having Peter Pan forget about his childhood and grow up to become a lawyer didn’t line up properly with Tootle’s memory of Neverland. He was older but still remembered the time in Neverland.

Robin Williams’ portrayal of Peter Pan was slightly off. He just seems like a weird old man coming to Neverland to reclaim his youth. It seemed like a bad mid-life crisis event. Not even the hair gel, body hair shave and make-up could help Williams look any younger for the role of Peter Pan.

Rufio was a horrible character. He’s annoyance grew with each minute of screen time. He seemed a bit out of place just like Robin Williams. He wasn’t a lost boy, he was a lost teenager. They should have cast someone younger in that role.

Originally published on the Bring On The Reviews Blogspot blog on April 3, 2014.

Hook (1991) Cast and Details

Hook (1991) is directed by Steven Spielberg and stars Dustin Hoffman, Robin Williams and Julia Roberts. It runs 142 minutes and is rated PG. You can look up the full cast and crew on IMDb. You might also like my RoboCop review.

DC's Hypothetical Corner

Let’s say I change one thing. Maybe that one thing will make this movie better or more watchable.

It would be a different movie if they focused more of the story on Hook rather than focus it on Jack and Peter. It was a pleasant surprise to see how much of the story revolves around Hook but they could have included at least 3-4 more scenes. If they had a scene talking about how Hook came into the real world to take Peter’s kids that would have made the movie better. It could have been a flashback or something like it. Just picture this movie with David Hasselhoff as Peter Banning, and Sean Connery as Hook. Imagine Peter confronting the person who’s responsible for taking his kids and Captain Hook looks up and says, “Hook, James Hook.”

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