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290 comments in total

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291 out of 425 people found the following comment useful :-
Why does everyone hate this film?, 27 March 2005

Author: potter_luvver from England

I, personally, cannot understand why so many people have left negative comments about this film. When it was released, many of us were young children and we all enjoyed it, but now that we are older, too many people are pointing out the bad jokes and mistakes and clichés that they have found. The point is, this is a children's film, and we didn't see those mistakes when we were children because it's designed that way. Even so, people fail to see deeper into certain aspects of the film. Peter Pan was meant to be 'the boy who never grew up', so to have a tale of his adult life and to show how he forgot Neverland is a special and unique take on the story, one that won't be forgotten.

There have also been many complaints about the scene where Tink becomes human-size and expresses some kind of love for Peter. Although she is not a human per se, she can have human feelings, so why would she not love him? As the original story tells, she is often jealous of other womens' affections towards him, and this film just extrapolates on that theme a little.

There have been comments about the 'father-who-is-so-busy-and-can't-go-to-the-game' cliché. Well, here's news for you. It's cliché because it happens all the time, and it's a truth! Some parents are just too busy to care. Lastly, too many people are moaning that Hook was too comical to be the bad guy. Well, this is a kids film and if he wasn't a little bit cheery-in-a-maniac sort of way, you'd have parents complaining that their kids were scared.

The main thing about this film is that it is really good, but it IS designed for children, and adults who go back and watch it years later, then suddenly spot loads of mistakes are just ruining it for themselves and others.

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55 out of 90 people found the following comment useful :-
Dustin Hoffman can easily can get you hooked, 27 January 2004

Author: Kristine (kristinedrama14@msn.com) from Chicago, Illinois

Hook is a spin off of the classic tale of Peter Pan, you ever wonder what life would have been like for Peter Pan if he had grown up? If he had kids, a wife, and a career as a lawyer? Not very much, but it happens here in Spielberg's tale of the boy who never wanted to grow up. Hook is a pretty good film, it was definitely very imaginative and creative story wise. The sets and actors were absolutely perfect for this film; did you know that Michael Jackson originally wanted to play the role of Peter? Pretty creepy, huh? But Robin Williams and Dustin Hoffman were so great together, I really enjoyed their performances. But the only actress I questioned was Julia Roberts as Tink, I'm not so sure if she was the best choice for the role. But that's just me, while the story seemed to drag on a bit, it was actually pretty good.

Peter is a bit of a grown up who just can't seem to have fun in life, he misses his son's baseball games, doesn't spend much time with the family, and is always focused on work. But when he and his wife visit England with their kids to see Wendy, the lady who raised Peter when he was an orphan, his kids are kidnapped by Captain James Hook who wants to challenge Peter, but when Tink takes Peter back to Neverland, he needs major convincing that he is Peter Pan and is given three days to do so to get back his children. The Lost Boys try their best to make Peter bang-or-aign once again with them and that he'll get his kids back while learning the importance of youth.

Hook is over all a good film that I would recommend to people. It's not at all a bad film, it has good drama in it along with great comedy. Most people love the dinner scene between Peter and Rufio, mine is Captain Hook explaining to Peter's kids why parents don't love children. Dustin's delivery of "I want to potty, I want a cookie" was just so perfect and funny. This is a good family film that I think you'll like, it's just an honest film with a fun story.

6/10

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12 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
Brings Back Childhood Memories!, 20 March 2009

Author: georgie-bradley from London, England

Right, I can understand that Spielberg's previous achievements had set the bar really high, but by no means does this make 'Hook' a flop. The story is what is so appealing to a young audience and a mature audience for that matter. The sensitive undertones of such a celebrated story spark much joy and heartfelt moments. The 'what if' factor of the whole story is really adventurous, and the fact that this story stems from the original is brilliant. Its a story of love,family and identity. All three elements resonate with a lot of audiences. From a visual standpoint Spielberg triumphs again! And i don't understand why people beg to differ! For the purpose of entertaining young audiences, it fulfills the intention and more. I must say however, the film owes 50% of its credit to John Williams. His absolutely stunning score supports the story's tenderness. The flying sequence is so thrilling that it literally makes me get up and want to levitate!

The performances are equally stunning and convincing, Robin Williams encompasses both his comedic and dramatic skills towards a full blooded performance. Dustin Hoffman and Bob Hoskins are superb....really really astonishing.

This film has to be one of Spielberg's most overlooked and underrated films of all time. It holds so much promise and warmth that every time I sit back and soak up the high-flying adventure it sends shivers down my spine. I recently watched it after so many years of it lost in my memory that I felt like I had visited a historical landmark..its placed within a treasured set of memories on my part.

I cant express how moving this film is, its just enthralling in every sense of the word..the construction of the story is very clever and realistic - from a child's point of view.

Really guys hold the cynicism and unlock you imaginations and appreciate this work of cinematic art.

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25 out of 41 people found the following comment useful :-
you naysayers miss the whole point, 13 December 2008

Author: blitzebill from United States

as is typical of reviews of most films at IMDb, 20% or so find films reviewed here as being bad.

Hook is no different. I never tire of seeing this film. Sure Spielberg gives us his take on the story and the "what ifs" abound, and there are imperfections. so what else is new about film-making?

do you see any films on this website that got a 10? NO!

no one film will EVER please everyone who watched it. so what's the point of giving your opinion? it obviously won't change the film. your opinion warns others to "stay away" from this film. "don't waste your time" blah blah blah.

point of my diatribe? take the wonderful parts and acting and visuals and music and whatever aspects of the film you like, and ENJOY THEM.

there are wonderful bits and pieces of Hook, and whole scenes, and the notion that people can change and try to make life better for those they may have hurt, and so on.

this film, if you have a heart, and some of you don't, speaks to that heart and moves it and makes you thankful for those in your life who really do need you.

am i a sentimentalist? so what if I am! get over it. and get a life.

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6 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
One of my favorites, 11 April 2009

Author: Ashley_The_Little_Rogue from Canada

I was 10 years old when I first saw this movie (and I was born in 1993), and it was one of my favorites. The 90's had a lot of very great movies, and I had to watch movies when I reached an age where I'd understand them. At 10 years old, I began to watch movie after movie to catch up to my older sister. Hook has many talented actors in it, and the plot was very good. The action scenes were very well done, the pirates were incredibly detailed in their clothes, and the whole island brought me back to the world of wonder that is Never Never Land. The Disney movie of it was what led me to watch this one, and because I watched the Disney one, it made me love this one even more. Sure, there are some of you who say it could have been better, and in some ways, I do agree, but for what they had to work with, I say it was a spectacular adventure.

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5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
A defending note, 4 December 2008
Author: revival05 from Sweden

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Sometimes you have to accept that you are the minority. I didn't find Casino Royale to be the ultimate 007 movie and I didn't think Batman Begins was the ultimate Batman movie. I think the Star Wars prequels deserve more credit and what people so viciously hated about Jar-Jar I will just never understand. But it's OK. I accept that. In these cases it's simply just a matter of taste. You don't agree with me, I don't agree with you? It's not the end of the world.

There are however other times when you feel that you have seen an entirely different movie than others have. And as some movies like 2001 or Blade Runner were torn apart or frowned upon when they first came, they have grown into classics later on. Why? My guess is misconceptions and pre-set expectations.

Now, I can't stop anybody from hating Steven Spielberg's Hook if they want to. But I think it's appropriate to raise my voice a little, in talking about what kind of a movie it actually is.

First of all, it's always been clear to me that Hook isn't that much of a story of Peter Pan as it is a story of Peter Banning or, if you want to get far fetched, perhaps Spielberg himself. Peter Banning has no respect and takes no interest in his children; thematically, this is defined by the way he consistently denies their world as REAL. By their world, I mean the world of a child, the world of games, stories, action and adventure. Be it baseball, school plays, drawings, bedtime storytelling or indoor games, Peter Banning does not comprehend this world as a very real world - but it is real to his children, it's actually their only real world, since the adult world leaves no place for them.

Now, the movie is all about Peter Banning finding respect for his children and understanding their world as real. In the movie, he becomes forced to do this. At first he is hooked, if you will, by the very real notion that his children have been kidnapped. That naturally catches his attention, and naturally to him, nothing could be more frightening or real. His motivation here is to simply bring back his children, but as it turns out he will have to totally enter the children's play-world and play, accepting their world as real.

To make it entirely clear that the children's world IS REAL, the movie literary crosses the line between fantasy and reality and Tinkerbell arrives to Peter Banning. The movie suggests that he not only will have to play that he is Peter Pan, he undoubtedly IS Peter Pan and cannot get away from it. He is hereby forced into play. This continues when he arrives at Neverneverland. Again, he cannot escape this world and in my mind this world is not so much JM Barrie's creation as it is a realm that essentially embodies child's play in general. It's like locking a bad parent into a playground, forcing him to spend time with the children in there. Because Neverneverland IS all play and fun. The lost boys PLAY that they are the lost boys, the pirates PLAY that they are pirates, Dustin Hoffman is obviously PLAYING that he is Captain Hook and as much as Peter Banning has to be forced into actually being Peter Pan in order to force him into taking it seriously, he eventually also PLAYS that he is Peter Pan. The theme of adults not seeing their children, or taking their world as real, is common in Spielberg's films. Remember Drew Barrymore in E.T, suggesting that maybe grown-ups can't see E.T and later on, Dee Wallace's mother is in the very same room as E.T but can't seem to notice him, since she is not interested in hearing any stories about men from the moon, that is to say she doesn't take it for real. There is a thematically identical scene in Hook where Peter is served the empty plates with food that he cannot see until he understands that the play is all for real. It's the scene that most people remember from the movie, even those who don't like it, and I don't think it's any coincidence.

This theme about believing and seeing children's fantasy world as REAL, is sprinkled all through the movie in just about every scene from beginning to end. But to underline that this movie essentially is about a man who will have to take his kids seriously, and not so much a movie where Peter Pan actually goes back to Neverneverland, the movie's final sequences have Peter Banning waking up by a Peter Pan-like statue, suggesting that perhaps it was all just a drunken dream. Note that I am not saying it was, because the movie clearly states that the events have taken place within the reality of the movie, it's not a "it was all just a dream"-ending, but the scene clearly points out that it doesn't really matter if it was all make-believe nor not, because in the eyes of a child, make-believe is just as real as "the real world". Actually, the last line of the movie is "To live would be an awfully big adventure" so I think Spielberg is also suggesting that grown-ups too need to think of their life as something a little more romantic and adventurous.

All in all, I think the movie has flaws and all, that's not what this comment is about, but I haven't seen these points anywhere so I figured I post my views. Hook is first and foremost not a "What if?"-story, and not a story of the adult Peter Pan. Yes it's what happens in the movie, but it's not what the movie is all about.

Bangerang.

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6 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Hook is back!, 5 May 2009

Author: tml_pohlak_13 from Canada

Steven Spielberg's "Hook" is one of his far-less loved films, and even Spielberg admitted he was disappointed with the final result. This is quite understandable: "Hook" begins as a great movie, but ends only as a good one. I looked forward to it: Robin Williams, my favourite actor, in a Steven Spielberg (my favourite director) film? Bring it on, said I! Let's throw clichés out the window for once. This is essentially a movie geared towards kids, so clichés are rightfully ignored. The movie asks the question: What if Peter Pan grew up? This has never been done before, and this is why the movie stands out: it isn't afraid to explore the unexplored.

Robin Williams is perfectly cast as "Peter Banning" (who we all know, of course, is the grown-up Peter Pan). Bob Hoskins is positively brilliant as Mr. Smee, Captain Hook's right-hand man. He provides a lot of comic relief, which is fun to watch. Dustin Hoffman himself is a great Captain Hook. Hook is not a purely evil villain in this film, though. He is a comic villain, funny in a goofy kind of way (proof that "Hook" is aimed towards the kiddies more than anything). But Tinker Bell is poorly played by Julia Roberts, who played the character with an attitude, and unenthusiastically, and you can easily tell.

The first, say, 25 minutes of "Hook" are brilliant: Williams is a workaholic who has no time for his kids, when they are kidnapped by the villainous Cap'n Hook. Granny Wendy (Maggie Smith) tries convincing him he is Peter Pan, and later that night, he is visited by Tinker Bell, who takes him to Neverland. This is when the movie stops being amazing, and becomes just "good".

For once, I found a reason to criticize Spielberg's direction. He made a horrible directing choice when showing the first (non-bird's-eye view)shot of Neverland. I was expecting a breathtaking, sweeping, panoramic first view of Neverland (which is lush and green in my imagination). Instead, there was a confused muddle of an establishing shot. People, buildings, and ships are cluttered so close together, Neverland is revealed for what it is: nothing more than a movie set on a sound-stage.

Another criticism I have is about The Lost Boys: none of them are very good actors at all. (This is not to say they're terrible, but they're quite amateurish.) And one of them is alarmingly obese, so much so that later on in the film, his body doubles as a boulder for bowling pirates over.

And finally, the fight sequences are poorly choreographed, and the fencing is dull, nothing more than shuffle-thrust-shuffle-thrust, over and over again. Williams and Hoffman may be smashing actors, but they are probably poor fencers, to have their routines limited to such simple moves.

One more thought: as with nearly every Spielberg movie, John Williams composed the music for "Hook". I'm a big fan of Williams' work, and looking back on the movie, his score was the absolutely brilliant highlight of the film. If you're going to watch Hook for anything, watch it for the music. Williams integrates his music marvellously with what is going on, and the music itself is beautiful: melodic, fun to listen to, and pleasing. His opulent and recurring theme for Captain Hook is one of those tunes that get stuck in your head and refuse to leave—but not in a bad way.

In general, "Hook" is entertaining. However, it is one of Spielberg's more flawed movies. So why the 10/10? Maybe because this is a film that I truly enjoyed, even though its flaws stuck out a mile when I started writing the review. After all, what's wrong with a little dumb fun now and then?

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Not as bad as all that, 1 June 2009

Author: PL1981 from Australia

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

When I first came to IMDb to look up this movie, I was very surprised at all the negative criticism and backlash that it had generated. I had watched the movie when it came out and found it very pleasant and enjoyable and, re-watching it again just recently, I still found it a very good movie

The movie's strong points to me are the scenery and design, the storyline, the music and the quality of acting by most of the cast. These factors combined ensure that the movie for the most part lives up to its potential and remains intriguing, gripping and heartwarming throughout. It has all the hallmarks of a successful Spielberg production and the movie is all the more better for it

Robin Williams's performance as Peter Pan/Peter Banning is very good in both his roles as a professional businessman too busy for his children andas the reincarnation of Peter Pan later on in the movie. I do understand where many critics are coming from when they say that he has a propensity to go over the top in his acting during some parts of themovie but he's good at portraying both a serious and funny side and I think that makes him the perfect choice for this role. Dustin Hoffman and Bob Smee are both delightful in their roles as the evil villains and Maggie Smith does a great job as Wendy.

There are some points on which I agree with the critics. Julia Roberts was a horrible choice to play Tinkerbell. I found her annoying from the start and she failed to give the character the charm and depth that it needed to succeed. The Lost Boys were terrible -they came across as bratty, overindulged hoodlums rather than young, innocent, mischievous children and it was quite impossible to feel any empathy with or them -they were good actors but badly written characters

Nevertheless, despite these flaws, this is still a worthwhile and enjoyable movie that I think young children will enjoy.

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3 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Love it !, 10 April 2009

Author: Andy Croft from Australia

Love the cast first of all. From Maggie Smith a goddess in my eyes to Dustin Hoffman and Robin William to a strange inclusion of Phil Collins. They all fit in well together so well. A magical story of Hook which take me into a wonderful fantasy land of what kids should dream about. This superb production should not be pulled down, for it is essentially a children's film but I love it. My kids thinks I am a big kid but I don't care. Julia Roberts as Tinks id Fab ! I am not the biggest fan of Robin Williams but I do like his portrayal of Peter Pan.

A magical movie for the entire family.

Granny included !!

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3 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Yes... Spielberg made it... AND IT WAS GREAT!!, 27 February 2009

Author: mkmatt1138 from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I absolutely love Hook. I can't find any part of this movie that I don't like. I don't understand the negative reviews. Yes, this is a kids movie.I'm 18 years old now and that would be prime age to hate a kids movie, yet I love it as much as I did as a youngster.

This is a unique take on the Peter Pan story and it proposes an interesting question; What if Peter Pan grew up? From there the movie takes you on a great mystical adventure in Neverland of Peter Pan re-finding himself and his youthful spirit, remembering his past, and rescuing his kids from the sinister Captain Hook. It is a wonderful story.

The casting of Robin Williams and Dustin Hoffman was great. Bob Hoskins is perfect for the role of Hook's right hand man Smee. John Williams of course conducts a masterful score. The child actors play their part very well. Steven Spielberg made this movie people, I don't see why you need to compare this movie's success to say 'Jaws' or 'ET'. Because Spielberg makes many great movies I understand that he has set a standard for himself, but just because this movie wasn't groundbreaking doesn't make it bad. It is a great movie in my opinion.

This is my favorite movie of all time. I give it 10/10 without any reservations.

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