My Review of Hook (1991)

 

Written by Jim V. Hart And Malia Scotch Marmo And Jim V. Hart And Nick Castle

Directed by Steven Spielberg

Wendy: "So... your adventures are over."

Peter: "Oh, no. To live... to live would be an awfully big adventure."

Before New Year's Day, I may slip in one or two more Christmas themed movies and I had to include this one. Yes, it's another childhood favourite and if there was a great live action sequel of sorts to Peter Pan, it's this one.

Now it's not actually a sequel to the 1953 Disney classic (I'll review that sometime next week) but for a long time, it certainly felt like one. I may have even seen this one before that movie or close enough to it.

Anyways, Peter Pan was now Peter Banning (Robin Williams) and he's become the boring adult that he never wanted to be. He married Wendy's (Maggie Smith) granddaughter, Moira (Caroline Goodall) and due to his work commitments, he's a terrible father to both Jack (Charlie Korsmo) and Maggie (Amber Scott). He's also forgotten about Neverland.

Of course he's reminded of Neverland when a vengeful Captain Jack Hook (Dustin Hoffman) had Jack and Maggie brought to Neverland. It wasn't long before Hook was pretty disgusted by the older Pan. That led to Tinkerbell (Julia Roberts) having to get Peter back into shape to rescue his children.

Peter's reunion with the Lost Boys now led by Rufio (Dante Basco) was one of the best ways to get Peter to remember his former life and reconcile it with the man he's become. While that was happening both Hook and Smee (Bob Hopkins) were doing a number on turning Jack against his own father.

The movie certainly had it's moments. Jack's anger issues towards Peter, Tinkerbell's feelings for Peter, Rufio's death, Peter finally stepping up for his children, Wendy's motives for moving on and Hook's demise. The latter did get a rather fitting demise here.

- In one of her first acting roles, Gwyneth Paltrow appeared as a younger version of Wendy while Glenn Close was also a pirate who got on Hook's bad side.

-Nick Castle, one of the writers for this movie played Michael Myers in Halloween (1978).

- Standout music: We Don't Wanna Grow Up, When You're Alone, Pick 'Em Up and Take Me Out To The Ball Game.

- Chronology: The present day scenes were in America and England while the majority of the movie was set in Neverland.

I have fond memories of watching Hook (1991) as a child. It's an excellent sequel with Robin Williams and Dustin Hoffman on excellent form as Peter Pan and Captain Hook alike.

Rating: 8 out of 10