365+ Movies in 365 Days: Day 63 - Hook

Today's movie was Hook, Spielberg's re=imagining the story of Peter Pan. Robin Williams plays Peter, now grown up and working as a lawyer "a pirate" on Wall Street. He returns to London for a when a hospital is dedicating a new building to his great "nanny" Wendy" During the visit his children are kidnapped by Captain Hook, played by Dustin Hoffman. It is up to peter to remember his life as Pan, and with the help of Tinkerbell, played by Julia Roberts, return to Neverland and rescue his kids.

The movie has a wonderful set up, but it falls flat once Peter returns to Neverland. From the pirate ship to the tree house of the Lost Boys, the whole film feels like a theme park. There is too much of everything and it all looks like plastic The segment with the Lost Boys helping Peter remember who he is goes on much too long and there are just too many lost boys. A large group of boys between the ages of 6 and 12, screaming and yelling, gets annoying pretty quickly.

Julia Roberts as Tinkerbell lacks any real spark of her own to bring the character to life and there is a seen where Tinkerbell makes her self adult sized and expresses her love for Peter Pan, which just feels wrong for the film. The final confrontation between Hook and Pan is disjointed and ends abruptly and is a real let down since that's the build up of the whole movie. Then the movie returns to present day London for multiple conclusions that, while touching, go on too long.

Dustin Hoffman as Hook, hams it up and is the best thing in the film, along with Bob Hoskins as his henchman, Smee. The special effects for the flying scenes are fun, but look old fashioned by today's standards. Robin Williams gets in some good one liners, but for the most part Spielberg keeps him in character.

The film touches on many things, the importance of family, always try to stay young at heart, father and son relationships and keeping priorities in life, but the message and heart of the film is lost in the over the top set pieces. This movie made a lot of money when it was released and I guess it appeals to kids, but for me it is the most disappointing Spielberg film I have seen because it lacks true imagination and magic.

At The Movie House rating ** stars.

I am going to close out my current Spielberg film festival with this film.  From 1974 to 1991 Spielberg directed 12 feature length films. Five of them were serious adult dramas, Sugarland Express, Jaws, The Color Purple and Empire Of The Sun and Always. But, because of the success of Close Encounters, The Indiana Jones movies, E.T. and Hook he was type cast as a special effects, summer blockbuster, action adventure film maker. He has been criticized for being overly sentimental and some say hid films lacked depth and do not take risks. There is some truth to this especially in his first 12 films, but in 1993 Starting with his work on Jurassic Park and Schindler's List, a new Spielberg emerged, creating more serious films with more mature films themes. In a few weeks (or months I'll return to Spielberg and view his body of work from 1993 to 2008.