I admit: I am unfairly harsh on fantasy stories. I forced myself in high school to read the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogy. While Tolkien was admittedly a tremendous world builder, I found his writing tedious otherwise. It wasn’t until I found this incredibly innovative retelling of Peter Pan that I discovered the fantasy genre could actually be entertaining.
Hook stars Robin Williams (an immediate win) as Peter Banning, a paunchy middle-aged lawyer who has lost his way. He’s a lawyer because “all grown ups are pirates.” He is traveling to England to honor Granny Wendy who, unknown to everyone else, is actually the Wendy of Peter Pan (we told our stories to J.M. Barrie and he wrote them down). Peter has with him wife Moira (Wendy’s granddaughter) and their two kids Jack and Maggie. Jack and Maggie want to play and have fun, but Peter just wants them to “quit acting like kids.”
After a party to honor Wendy’s work with orphan children, Peter returns to Wendy’s where he finds the children’s caretakers overcome and the kids missing. In place of the children, Peter finds a cryptic note signed by Captain James Hook saying that he has taken the kids, and that Peter must come to Neverland to get them back. Peter is at a loss, not knowing who James Hook is, what Neverland is, or for that matter, his own identity. The police are called, but seem to be no help. Peter is depressed until a “firefly” shows up to help him, that firefly being Tinkerbell. She hauls Peter to Neverland and the adventure begins.
Hook is directed by Steven Spielberg (home run #2) and stars Dustin Hoffman as Captain Hook in a costume so elaborate his own mother wouldn’t recognize him. Hoffman is perfect as the aged, over-the-top vindictive Captain whose only goal is to humiliate and kill the Pan, which becomes a problem since Peter doesn’t know that he himself is the Pan, and refuses to fight.
The Lost Boys, Tinkerbell and even the pirates try to remind Peter of who he is, but it’s all for lost, until Peter sees Jack being influenced into becoming a mini Hook. Peter finds the motivation to at least fight and hopefully rescue his kids. Expert performances by Maggie Smith as Granny Wendy and Julia Roberts (there, I said it) as Tinkerbell round out a perfectly cast group of actresses and actors.
IMDB’s rating of 6.8/10 is abysmal. Remembering my son Luke’s dividing line of “7 is the beginning of good movies”, I have to give Hook an 8/10. The writing, directing and acting are all excellent.