Review of Hook (1991) by Joey S — 30 Dec 2013

I was astonished to see the tomatometer at 31% for this film. I was a 90's kid and this movie was a staple of my movie watching youth. I can see every word coming in this film from having memorized it when I first got the VHS tape. Hook was a revision of Peter Pan like no other film. Peter Pan movies come and go, but Hook was the first to dabble with the concept of Peter Pan re-integrating into modern society. How better to demonstrate the separation of Pan's world and the American one, as young Pan becomes indoctrinated into capitalism and becomes so work-driven he forgets the contrast absurdity of his former life.

This movie explores death, with the aging of Tootles, Pan, the torture of the "Boo Box", Hook's suicide threat, and Rufio's stabbing - a rare occurrence of youthful demise in cinema. Captain Hook's ship is rich with landscape and intricate detail. Dustin Hoffman was an amazing Cpt. Hook, and gave the role great character with his learned demeanor and phobic behavior. This movie contained my favorite version of Robin Williams. It may have actually been his most down to Earth role ever. He really pulled off the personality of a corporate lawyer and was still young enough to play the outdoorsy Pan. Maybe the reviews on here view the movie from a recent watch. For its time (1991), it was of exceptional cinematic visual quality and technique.

The CGI was seamless, like with Julia Roberts as Tinkerbell, and the stern reliance on physical props in the early 90s gave scenes a hearty appearance. I was instantly won over by the movie "The Internship" when a character referred to this movie and yelled, "Bangerang!" The Lost Boys' tribalism did not seem far-fetched, and their close relationship with death was not denoted. For whatever reason, the film got through to me and really took me away to a much better world than the one I was stuck in. Give the film a try, or at least let your kids watch it. The best part was when Peter Panning realized he was Peter Pan.