HOOK (1991)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
"Hook" is the most bombastic, depressing, overdone and highly ineffectual fantasy film ever made. What is most depressing is that director Steven Spielberg made it, the very same cinematic wizard who awed us with "E.T." This is not the Peter Pan sequel many of us have been clamoring for, and I suspect that it will always be considered a failure in every respect.
Peter Pan (Robin Williams) is now an adult and a parent. He is a successful lawyer who has virtually ignored his children and his wife (Caroline Goodall) because of his heavy workload and his constantly ringing cell phone. Peter never makes it to his son's baseball games, and is seemingly attached to his cell phone. They all go on a Christmas trip to see Granny Wendy (Maggie Smith) while Peter makes some attempt to reconnect to his family. Before you know it, Captain Hook (Dustin Hoffman) has kidnapped Peter's kids to Never-Never Land while the pint-sized Tinker Bell (Julia Roberts) wakes Peter up since he is unaware of his past exploits to save his kids. What does he have, amnesia? Ultimately, Peter reunites with the Lost Boys (who love to have food fights) to find his inner child. How 90's!
"Hook" is full of action but it is misdirected with overstylized, brightly lit sets that are likely to give you a migraine. Every scene is scored with thunderous overkill by John Williams and so darn loud that it will cause your eardrums to burst. Showing Peter Pan as a bloated fool who confronts mermaids wearing Day-Glo and punkish, unlikable Lost Boys who practically abuse him as if he were in boot camp is not the fanciful, magical tale I know. The ending reeks of so much mawkishness that I felt I was showered with an emotional waterfall of fake tears. And we do not have just one climax but at least three by my count. "Hook" is Spielberg's biggest folly since "1941."
