Few studio fantasies inspire quite as much generational whiplash as Hook. For some viewers, it is one of Steven Spielberg’s most magical family movies. For others, it is a gloriously overstuffed curiosity that only gets weirder and more charming with age. Either way, it has become a real cult favorite over the years, and now Prime subscribers are down to their last days to revisit it.
Released in 1991, Hook imagines what happened after Peter Pan grew up. Robin Williams stars as Peter Banning, an adult who has forgotten his life in Neverland until Captain Hook returns and forces him to rediscover who he really is. The cast also includes, among others, Dustin Hoffman as Captain James Hook, Julia Roberts as Tinker Bell, Bob Hoskins as Smee, Maggie Smith as Granny Wendy, and Charlie Korsmo as Jack Banning.
Not just that, though, but you’ll also get to experience one of John Williams‘ most underrated scores. The music that swells when Peter remembers his true identity before embracing the persona of Pan once again and blasting into the Neverland sky is one of the most triumphant moments you’ll witness.
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Is ‘Hook’ Worth Seeing?
The late critic Roger Ebert gave the film 2/4, noting that Hook takes a great idea — what if Peter Pan grew up? — and somehow turns it into something far less magical than it should be. Instead of feeling like a fresh or imaginative take on a beloved story, the film ends up feeling overly long, messy, and surprisingly uninspired. When his children are kidnapped by Captain Hook, Peter’s forced to return to Neverland and rediscover who he used to be. It’s a strong setup, and early on, the film hints at something special, but once the story reaches Neverland, things start to fall apart.
“The crucial failure in ‘Hook’ is its inability to re-imagine the material, to find something new, fresh or urgent to do with the Peter Pan myth. Lacking that, Spielberg should simply have remade the original story, straight, for this generation. The lack of creativity in the screenplay is dramatized in the sword fighting sequences between Hook and Peter, which are endless and not particularly well-choreographed. They do not convince me that either Williams or Hoffman is much of a fencer.”
Hook will leave Prime Video on March 31.
- Release Date
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December 11, 1991
- Runtime
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142 minutes
