Although it now has a number of fans, Hook is one of the more controversial films in Steven Spielberg’s career. The fantasy adventure, released in 1991, is overshadowed by its two sequels, Jurassic Park and Schindler’s List, received poor reviews and was considered a disappointment despite good results. Even the director himself expressed his regret about the making of the film.
But Hook still has some advantages and if you want to enjoy them, you still have Until July 31, 2024, you have time to watch the fantasy adventure with a Netflix subscription. Then the film disappears from the catalogue.
Steven Spielberg’s Hook tells the story of an adult Peter Pan
In Hook, JM Barrie’s classic Peter and Wendy is adapted with a modern twist. Peter Pan is no longer a boy, but a grown man (Robin Williams) with a family that he hardly ever sees because of his job. When Captain Hook (Dustin Hoffman) kidnaps his children and takes them to Neverland, Peter must rediscover his childlike self in order to stand a chance against the fashion-conscious pirate captain. Other top-class roles include Julia Roberts, Bob Hoskins and Maggie Smith.
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Hook
But that didn’t change the critics’ minds in 1991. By Spielberg standards, Hook received surprisingly bad reviews. Roger Ebert, for example, only gave it 2 stars:
The lack of creativity in the script is dramatized in the endless and poorly choreographed fencing scenes between Hook and Peter. […]
The finale of Hook would be, even for a film in which something substantial had happened beforehand, embarrassingly exaggerated.
At the box office, Hook generated a profit for his studio and was still treated as a failure. Today, things would probably be different for a film that cost $70 million and grossed $300 million. Spielberg, however, was not held to the usual standards. Spielberg explained his dislike to Empire (via Den of Geek ) in 2018:
I still don’t like this movie. I hope to see it again one day and maybe like some things about it. […] I didn’t know exactly what I was doing and tried to cover up my insecurity with showmanship. […] The more uncertain I felt, the bigger and more colorful the sets became.The fantasy adventure on Netflix is still worth it
Hook may seem kitschy and exaggerated (not only) in the finale, but Spielberg delivers for the most part, confidently told family entertainment Despite the sugary-sweet Neverland energy, the director also dealt with the recurring theme of fathers who abandon their sons on the steps to adulthood. But unlike Close Encounters of the Third Kind or Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, this time there is a star who conjures up the child in the man on screen like no other. The great Robin Williams gives Hook an anarchic energy, especially in the second half, that is usually lacking in Spielberg films.
On the other hand, Dustin Hoffman is an equal opponent in the film, who lets loose in the most delicious way possible, as only an actor who really comes into his own under absurd wigs and costumes can. Hook is not one of Spielberg’s perfect blockbusters like Raiders of the Lost Ark or Jurassic Park – but it is one of his most unusual.