review by John Warrender
Hook 1991
Reviewed Mar 18, 2012
John Warrender’s review:
Spielberg's worst, by an order of magnitude. Every single one of his worst peccadilloes exaggerated to the point of toxicity. Odious, oleaginous gloop, offensive to the eye and ear, a stain upon the soul of all who see it. Consign it to a nuclear waste dump and forget it ever existed.
I pretty much agree. So much thespian talent ... I mean, Robin Williams, Maggie Smith (if I remember correctly), Dustin Hoffman... Julia Roberts gamely putting the gamine into Tinkerbell, all valiantly trying to bring the corpse to life, God bless them. There is something awfwy twee about the source material it has to be said, and Spielberg channeled J M Barrie with a vengeance. Maybe he could have thrown in Christopher Robin for good measure.
I think there's room for a radical retelling of the story. There's a core of steel in the book, and a real sadness, that Spielberg (and P.J. Hogan in his superior version) hint at, but eventually shy away from. It's about the pain of childhood ending, but they both sentimentalise it a bit. Normally I would never say that a story needs to be modernised, but I think there are far too many adaptations that follow the Disney visual and tonal template, and a brand new version has a place in the world. I'll do it! ;-)
Yes. When archtypes are handled well in film it's wonderful, but when the opportunities are missed it's coitus interruptus. Frustration all round.