Once upon a time, Steven Spielberg made a Peter Pan movie, and it was the best Peter Pan movie of them all. I'm talking, of course, about Hook, the 1991 epic fantasy adventure that stars Robin Williams as a grown-up Peter Pan and is full of exactly the kind of gorgeous set pieces and magical whimsy you'd expect when you let Spielberg direct a children's fairy tale. And it puts every other adaptation to shame: the racist and frankly tiresome 1953 Disney animated feature, the 2003 live-action film that no one remembers, and 2015's boring, CGI-bloated Pan, in which someone thought it would be a good idea to cast Rooney Mara as Tiger Lily. Hook surpasses them all in every respect, from the pitch-perfect casting to the world-building to the Spielbergian production value, and of course, John Williams' delightful score.
Every Character is Perfectly Cast
Robin Williams was the only actor who could pull off an adult version of the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, especially one with disparate, warring sides to his personality. Adult Peter transitions rapidly from an overworked, out-of-touch dad to a mischievous, parentless child, and ultimately has to learn to balance the two. Most actors would have made the dad unlikable and overbearing and the childlike side of his personality creepy, but in Williams' gifted hands, both are believable
Williams isn't the only character who disappears into his role. Dustin Hoffman, perhaps surprisingly, is flawless as Hook—who's portrayed as a rockstar among pirates more than a decade before Jack Sparrow came onto the scene—and is somehow simultaneously hilarious, menacing, and a bit pathetic. He also has a rockstar's narcissism, melodramatic theatricality, and he's magnetic in every scene.
Bob Hoskins is also a perfect Smee: gleeful, bumbling, and a little inept, and far funnier than his 1953 animated counterpart. Julia Roberts is a charming Tinker Bell (even if her momentary romantic subplot with Peter is a little weird), and Maggie Smith somehow reins in her usually commanding presence (though she still steals every scene she's in) to play an elderly and frail Granny Wendy, despite only being in her fifties at the time. No doubt thanks to Spielberg's legendary gift for working with child actors, even the kids' performances are mostly solid, from Peter's children, Jack (Charlie Korsmo) and Maggie (Amber Scott), to the Lost Boys. True, some of the younger kids, like Scott and Isaiah Robinson (a.k.a. Pockets) have an occasional awkward line read, but Korsmo's performance is extremely impressive, as is that of Dante Basco as Rufio, the leader of the Lost Boys since Pan's departure.
The Production Value Is Spectacular
Although he would wow us with his revolutionary use of CGI just two years later in Jurassic Park, Spielberg relied on practical effects and even revolutionized a technique of filming old-fashioned matte paintings in 3D to create Neverland, and this version is gorgeously colorful, with a tactile, lived-in feeling that CGI rarely replicates. The pirate's cove (and the pirates themselves) are grimy and run-down—except for Hook's chambers, which are predictably lavish—while the Lost Boys' woodland home is cozy and organic, with enough absurdity in its design to make you believe that it was really built by kids.
In between are snowcapped mountains, tropical jungles, and crystal clear seas filled with mermaids, and we get just enough of a taste of each to give Neverland a real sense of place. (The film also makes the smart decision to omit Neverland's Native Americans entirely—at least Peter Pan & Wendy has had the sense to cast an actual Indigenous person, Alyssa Wapanatâhk, as Tiger Lily.)
The costumes, too, are fabulous, and the film was nominated for Oscars for both Best Costumes and Best Makeup, but Hook's is the standout. Modeled on a timeless pirate look (and obviously influenced by Disney's 1953 version), it's intricate and beautiful, down to the shiny black curls that, in the end, are revealed to be a wig. The Lost Boys' outfits are a clever mishmash of different eras, which fits the story's mythos. Rufio's skater punk aesthetic might be too quintessentially late eighties to really hold up (although crop tops and a single dangly earring are making a comeback), but it was a product of its time, designed to communicate to the kids in the audience that this is a very cool dude. Honestly, it still kind of works.
Admittedly, the final fight between the pirates and the Lost Boys feels a little silly, despite the obvious effort that went into producing it. But, well, it's a kids' movie, of course the Boys are going to fight with a chicken egg cannon and a machine gun that shoots marbles. Did you really expect to see a bunch of nine-year-olds brutally stabbing adult men?
'Hook's Worldbuilding is Brilliant
Peter Pan is both a storybook character and a real person in this world: according to Granny Wendy, Sir J.M. Barrie was her neighbor, and he so loved the Darling children's stories of Neverland that he wrote them down, presumably unaware that they were based on real experiences. The film reminds us of these original stories early on but trusts that the audience is well-versed enough not to need a play-by-play recap, instead rewarding the attentive viewer with Easter eggs such as the name of Peter's wife and Wendy's granddaughter, Moira, and a brief cameo from Nana—presumably the great-great-great-grandpup of the Darling family's first nanny dog. And believe it or not, Tinker Bell's infatuation with Peter is faithful to Barrie's novel, as is her playful nickname for him, "you silly ass."
Moreover, Hook feels like a true continuation of both the original stories and the early adaptations. At the end of the 1953 film, Captain Hook flees across the sea with Tick-Tock the Croc in hot pursuit. What became of them? Hook gives us our answer: in the center of the pirates' village, the giant croc stands upright, stuffed, and turned into a clock by Jas. Hook himself. Instead of rehashing old plot lines as mediocre sequels and reboots are wont to do, Hook builds on the earlier stories, bringing the spirit of Barrie's original works to life while also introducing new themes.
Given the inherently cinematic nature of Barrie's stories, it's surprising that most of their film adaptations thus far have been so lackluster. Although Disney's 1953 film is still beloved by many, and it undeniably has some charm, it's too obviously a product of its time and a tough watch in the twenty-first century. Hook, on the other hand, holds up, especially alongside the glut of third-rate children's movies that have hit our screens since CGI became so cheap and easy to produce. If you haven't seen it lately, it deserves a re-watch, and you won't need your nostalgia goggles to enjoy it.