Hook

With the release of Joe Wright's Pan this weekend, a film which explores how Peter Pan got to Neverland, I thought it would be as good a time as any to take another look at my generations Peter Pan rendition, Hook, and see if it still held up for me. I loved this movie, as did a lot of kids at the time, so naturally there is a lot of nostalgia involved with this movie for me. Is it possible to be critical of something I cherished as a child and still be able to love it as an adult? I think so.

Peter Banning (played by Robin Williams) is a workaholic father who spends far too much time working at the expense of time with his wife Moira (played by Caroline Goodall) or children Jack (played by Charlie Korsmo) and Maggie (played by Amber Scott). He frequently misses family commitments and even when he's there he's often on his cell phone. He is flying with his family to visit Moira's grandmother, Wendy Darling (played by Maggie Smith) and celebrate her charity work for orphans, that once included Peter himself. While at a charity event, Jack and Maggie are kidnapped from Wendy's home. Upon returning home, Peter, Moira, and Wendy find a note pinned to a door requesting Peter's return to Neverland by James Hook (played by Dustin Hoffman) to rescue his children. Peter is not inclined to believe the truth when Wendy informs him that he really is Peter Pan and that the stories are true. He's a little more inclined to believe when Tinkerbell (played by Julia Roberts) shows up to take him back to Neverland. Once in Neverland, Peter attempts to retrieve his children from Hook, who is disappointed in the sight of his once worthy adversary, not quite convinced that this middle aged man was once Peter Pan. However, his right hand man Smee (played by Bob Hoskins), convinces Hook that he is and with some negotiation from Tinkerbell, Hook gives her three days to get Peter in shape and back to his old self. With the help of the Lost Boys and their new leader Rufio (played by Dante Basco), she sets to work trying to get Peter to remember when he was Peter Pan and how to fly. In the meantime, Hook and Smee set out to try and shift the loyalties of his kids Jack and Maggie over to him and away from Peter. Maggie resists but Jack is more tempted seeing a better father figure in Hook. When Peter finds out what Hook is up to, it only makes him more determined to rediscover his roots and rescue his kids from the clutches of James Hook.

Revisiting this film as an adult, the flaws are much more apparent than when I was a kid. There are some significant pacing issues and the movie is far too long at two hours and twenty two minutes long. It takes the movie a good 35 minutes for the action to even get to Neverland, which seems a bit much. Much of the first quarter of the movie is dedicated to how terrible of a father Peter is which is handled with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. After the first couple examples, we're ready to move on. There are also some rather large plot holes that are never addressed, such as how did Hook know where to find Peter or his kids or even that he had kids. Did he just stumble into it, initially just looking for Peter and Wendy and finding Jack and Maggie instead and start making up the plan on the fly? These are the questions I was thinking as I watched the movie again and would have loved to have seen addressed in the film. 

That said, there is still a lot I love about this movie. It is impeccably cast, with Robin Williams wonderfully embodying an adult Peter Pan. Dustin Hoffman damn near steals the show with a fantastic and memorable turn as Captain Hook, with Bob Hoskins giving a performance to match as Smee. I'm not even kidding, these two steal the show. Hoskins even reprises the role of Smee in the Syfy channel Mini-series Neverland from a few years back. Julia Roberts as Tinkerbell is the one weak spot, I suppose although I think the writing of her character can take the bulk of the blame. She gives a solid performance, but the way they wrote Tink doesn't ring true to the character as we know her. Maggie Smith makes a great old Wendy and certainly makes the best of her few scenes in the film. Also, a special kudos to the make up team. They nailed the old age make up for Maggie Smith. Normally, when one compares actors in old age make-up to how they actually ended up aging, it winds up being way off. But comparing Maggie Smith in this to how she looks today (damn near 25 years after they shot this), it looks like she made Hook yesterday. And then there is Rufio, the new leader of the Lost Boys. Out of all the characters in the film, Rufio seems to have taken on a life of his own. I think every kid that saw the movie wanted to be Rufio, and the number of people I've seen cosplaying him only confirms this suspicion. We sure as hell didn't want to be Jack. I feel bad for Charlie Korsmo. Everyone else is either off flying around, fighting pirates, or assorted either fun things and he's stuck riding the angst train for the entire movie whining about his inattentive father. I really wish they had done more with his character because so much of it is really repetitive and gets old fast.

Steven Spielberg directed the film and manages to for the most part keep the film moving at a decent pace. It drags here and there a bit, but for the most part it works. The climactic showdown between the Lost Boys and the Pirates was as exhilarating to watch as ever, with the fantastic John Williams score playing over it. There's only one scene I wish they had cut and it's is a really bizarre one where Tinkerbell becomes full adult sized and professes her love to Peter. It's always been a weird scene that stuck out among the rest of the movie. It also stops the movie cold. It's sandwiched in between Peter regaining his memories of Neverland and the climactic showdown and it just slams the brakes on the whole movie. It could have and should have been cut and no one would've been the wiser.   

Still, despite my criticisms, I still enjoy this movie. Maybe it's the nostalgia talking, but despite everything I was still having a good time with it. It had been a few years since I had watched it from beginning to end, but I found I still remembered many of the lines after all this time. Despite it's flaws, I still love the movie today as much as I did as a kid. Yeah, it's not a perfect movie, but it's still an entertaining one.