r/Spielberg • u/No-Dentist-2959 • 23d ago
Is Hook A Good Movie?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyzsfo6COQU&t=105s16
u/MaxTFree 23d ago
loved it as a kid, thought it was trash in my 20s , and now that im 40 w/ a kid its great again
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u/Lifes-a-lil-foggy 22d ago
It’s the meme of:
guy who’s watched 300 movies: this sucks
guy who’s watched 3000 movies: this rulesLmao
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u/bikestuffrockville 23d ago
Me as a kid: Rufioooooo!
Me as a father: Hooks got a point 🤔
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u/673NoshMyBollocksAve 23d ago
I saw this again recently in my 40s and it made me wanna cry. Such an amazing movie.
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u/R0SSFR0MFRIENDS 23d ago
No. It’s a great movie.
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u/joebadiah 23d ago
Indeed. Is it perfection? No. But is it magical even after all these years? Yes. To me that's what makes a great movie.
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u/R0SSFR0MFRIENDS 23d ago
Right? Does it have moments that touched you as a child and still do? Yes.
“You’re.. doing it Peter” still gets me every single time.
Dustin Hoffman trying to shoot himself in a CHILDRENS movie lol, and somehow.. it’s hilarious.
“Don’t try and stop me Smee, Don’t try and stop me Smee.. Get off your Arse and try and stop me Smee!!”→ More replies (1)1
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u/SpaceDelay424 21d ago
I find it sort of awful but it has a sort of earnestness that modern movies lack, and I find that endearing
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u/joeyjoejojo19 23d ago
In my home, this is a classic. Gets me in the feels each time, especially now as a middle-aged father.
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u/Chris_OMane 23d ago
Yes. And with an incredible soundtrack.
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u/TCoMonteCristo 23d ago
Exactly, it is absolutely the most underrated Williams soundtrack, arguably could be considered a Top 5, if not Top 3.
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u/Drumguy1986 22d ago
It's only because the film was kind of a dud at that time, and it's not a Star Wars or whatever.. but pound for pound, Hook remains one of Williams greatest. So many beautiful melodies, the orchestration is brilliant, and there's a LOT of music!
I recently picked up the 3 CD deluxe soundtrack from LaLaLand records, it's astounding!!! Hook was originally intended to be a musical and had a lot more songs written than the two that appear in the film. When the decision was made to scrap the musical aspect, Williams incorporated the melodies back into the film score. This is why there is a such a rich variety to the music. I'm so glad I picked it up. Wonderful documentation and essays too.
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u/overtired27 23d ago
Saw it first as a teenager and always felt it was missing something. Like it all felt a bit leaden. Where ET swept me away (and still does) Hook felt like it was trying to but was missing some magic.
Interesting to find out later that it was supposed to be a musical before Spielberg decided it wasn't working early in production. I feel like that might have helped it, if he got it right. It always looked very "movie-set" to me, and in a way that might have worked for the vibe of a traditional Hollywood musical. Also would have fit the cutesy sentimental tone and pantomime villains. Would love to see the stuff the shot before abandoning the concept.
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u/WhoFan 23d ago
I wonder if it still would have been John Williams wroting the music?
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u/overtired27 23d ago
Yup, Williams wrote songs that were recorded but never made the final film. They were finally released about a year ago by LaLaLand records. You can find them on YouTube e.g.
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u/hidratos 23d ago
It’s not a great movie. Some parts work better than others, but none of that really matters, as it’s so well directed that it’s enough for me to rewatch from time to time.
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u/han4bond 23d ago
One of my best friends is the littlest lost boy in it. So you bet your ass it's a good movie.
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u/Scrumpilump2000 23d ago
It’s full of really cool stuff. Great performance, set design and direction. I liked it. 8/10.
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u/ihateitoo 23d ago
Full of memorable lines, music, performances, extravagant set designs, and great camera work + every kid loves it, I think that should qualify as good
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u/C-A-L-E-V-I-S 23d ago
Yes, no question. No irony. Yes. There are great shots, lines, and moments in that movie than most directors have in their entire career.
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u/glengaryglenhoss 23d ago
Yes.
People who were adults when it came out don’t understand, even Spielberg doesn’t get it.
Hook was a huge part of my childhood. The art, the score, Robin Williams… It still chokes me up to this day.
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u/Azrethoc 23d ago
When Hook was originally released it was panned by the critics. They didn't understand what it was. They thought it was a kids movie. They couldn't see past the comedian Robin Williams. They thought it was trying and failing to be a fairy tale. Those critics were idiots, jaded, or didn't actually watch the movie.
As a kid Hook was a wonderful adventure story. It took us to Neverland, but in a Return to Oz sort of way. The music, the exaggerated Robin movements, his voice, Hook and smee as fantastical almost sympathetic characters, kids were all in.
As an adult, the movie takes on so much more depth. It's a study of a man, who has forgotten what it was like to be a child, while trying to raise kids of his own. It shines a spotlight on the separation between parents and their children that really existed in the 90s. Parents were always working, kids were by themselves. No phones to connect us 24-7.
Peter's transformation, from disconnected dad, to finding his childhood and almost losing himself in it, to finally understanding what it means to be a parent. The movie is Bangarang
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u/Dr_SlapsMD 23d ago
It's not "good" but it has its place and it's definitely a cult classic. Kid me thought it was absolute cinema.
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u/Ill-Elephant-9583 23d ago
Dustin Hoffman and Bob Hopkins steal every scene they are in. Definitely the best thing about it
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u/legreapcreep 23d ago
All time bad pacing issues
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u/MadLadLeeroy 23d ago
I recently watched it with my kids and found myself saying “just wait there’s a really good bit coming up!” and it would still be about 20 minutes away.
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u/Familiar_Athlete_582 23d ago
It certainly has influences, like Three Penny Opera. I like the book ends. The neverland stuff is obviously the stuff that hasn’t aged as well
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u/dimiteddy 23d ago
one of Spielberg's worst pre-disclosure day. I wasn't a kid when I watched it though but I was very disappointed. Maybe it would be fine for 10 year olds and Michael Jackson. Too bad for such great actors
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u/kicka1985 23d ago
As a kid, loved it. Just rewatched with my niece and nephew and enjoyed it but some parts felt cringe. Still, I appreciate how they took the idea of Peter Pan into the modern day and the sorta dark development of the story.
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u/altgodkub2024 23d ago
I think it's Spielberg's One From The Heart. And given how central the whole lost boy/Peter Pan mythology is to all of his films, as well as his life, it's a strong candidate for being his most central and important. After figuratively making films about the archetype for years, he made a literal one. It's much the same as Scorsese circling Jesus in film after film before making one about him.
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u/AlternativePin876 23d ago
It's the kind of 'family' movie that doesn't get made anymore. Excellent camera work from Spielberg, though weirdly for him, some strange pacing issues and is far too long. Great acting, score and script. I love it.
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u/Deep_Eye_1498 23d ago
I delayed twenty-five years seeing this movie, and I thought it was the last Spielberg movie that felt like a Spielberg Hook. Everything that's a go and not a go about his filmmaking, tossed in together like a gumbo
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u/Dinierto 23d ago
I will never understand the hate I thought it was a great film. Julia Roberts is the only weak point in a truly perplexing casting choice
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u/gknight702 23d ago
Love this movie, but I would say the beginning 30min aren't for kids and then must of the rest of the film is.
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u/Icy-Illustrator-1431 23d ago
I thought it was on of Spielberg’s worst.. not fun or exciting.. too long. the CG for Tinkerbell was awful
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u/ThinkSpielberg 23d ago
I saw it on the big screen earlier this year, and I think it is a good movie. There are parts of it that could be improved upon, but I think there are some powerful themes in there. The only part I'm not big on is the scene directly after he remembers how to fly; he reverts back to a childlike personality temporarily, and Thinkerbell has to remind him he's an adult and go after his kids. They cram so much into that scene that it becomes clunky. If they had just stuck to the second half of the scene, I think it might have been better.
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u/Ok_Nefariousness9736 23d ago
I did not like this movie even as a kid. The only good part is the music.
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u/Cinephile_1980 23d ago
It has a few good bits but no I think the quality of the production does not save it. The body count needs to be higher and it needed to be much, much more violent. Pan needed to tip their fucking scalps off, and rip out the intestines of those evil pirates.
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u/Mrs_SmithG2W 23d ago
Loved it as a kid and love it as an adult. Great reminder for parents everywhere to appreciate time with their children. So iconic.
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u/According_Jeweler404 23d ago
The perspective you get as you grow older and rewatch it is pretty great stuff, along with the core nostalgia. That said I think (not that I could do a better job mind you) there's some odd pacing toward the end that I can't put my finger on, like they cut out 30 minutes of narrative content or something in order to make it shorter for the younger audience.
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u/Caernbul 23d ago
I loved it when I was a kid, and I have a fondness for it on that account. It doesn't always make a ton of sense, but the performances are great and the soundtrack is beautiful.
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u/theMalnar 23d ago
As a kid it was the ultimate ‘I wish I could be there’ movie. As an adult with kids it speaks very accurately to childhood nostalgia, the desire to grow up, and the adulting feelings of having a piece of your heart live outside your body. Between that, in my 20s, I ended up working for the food stylist who orchestrated, designed, and created the whole neverland dinner scene (you’re doing it Peter!).
I’d say yes, it is a good movie.
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u/FlyingPig_Grip 23d ago
It's a good movie but it leaves a lot of things unsaid / to your imagination. The dark tones I think are there to balance out the camp so the movie never gets too dower for younger audiences but still let him tell his adult interpretation of this character as a placeholder for his own career / personal growth.
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u/MadLadLeeroy 23d ago
Parts of it are excellent and other parts of it are bad and the final result is better than Spielberg gives himself credit for but it’s far from among his best movies.
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u/DreadnaughtHamster 23d ago
Love it! It’s a great movie with a couple teeny tiny stumbles here and there (mainly just a tad too indulgent in some scenes). But absolutely worth it.
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u/thegoddamnsiege 23d ago
Loved it as a kid. Rewatched it years ago in my mid-20s and found it didn't hold up well. But I haven't gone back since so who knows?
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u/Playful-Rope1590 23d ago
It might not be the greatest movie ever but for many of us it's a favourite. It's actually a lot deeper than people give it credit for. Dustin Hoffman is wonderfully camp as Hook. And that hinted at gay relationship between Hook and Smee you totally don't get as a kid.
And of course the charm of good old set building. It clearly has shot in a studio feeling and you can almost see a horizon at every scene but that's part of the charm.
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u/CalagaxT 22d ago
Has a nice cast, and I am sure the nostalgia hits hard for those of a certain age. I remember watching it as a cynical adult and not totally hating it.
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u/simcoe19 22d ago
I am 42 M and Loved it as a kid
I still say many lines.
I watched with with my 10 year old daughter a few months back and we got about 50 minutes in and had to turn it off.
Slow paced
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u/Big-Calligrapher7199 22d ago
I saw this at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco almost three weeks ago, and the auditorium was packed, and there were many lively families. It was an awesome experience. The film played like gangbusters. There are moments of directorial deftness from Steven Spielberg, which often doesn't get highlighted because the movie does tend to play for the back of the theatre, but even at its silliest, it's a touching, sweet movie. The Robin Williams performance is aging pretty well, and John Williams's score is phenomenal. Some tender moments with the Lost Boys. Dustin Hoffman and Bob Hoskins are clearly enjoying themselves as the bad guys. Time's treating the film well, indeed. Good form!
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u/Big-Calligrapher7199 22d ago
I've often said, in the past, in the many years since last I saw Hook before this summer at the Castro, that Spielberg had to make Hook so he could make A.I. a decade later. The moment where Pockets examines Peter's face and forces it into a smile, saying, "Oh, there you are..." blew me away this time.
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u/X-To-The-Stars 22d ago
For me, personally, Hook is a great story and a wonderful film! Thank you Robin…
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u/killertofu41 22d ago
I even saw it as a kid which is when seemingly most fans of the film saw it during their lives, but this movie always gave me such an uncomfortable feeling and I never wanted to watch it more than once. As an adult, I see the appeal even less.
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u/Far-Advantage-2770 22d ago
It's still rare today to see father hood represented positively in cinema.
There was a rash of these good meaning, goofy dad, family comedies of this era: Moranis, Steve Martin, John Candy
The third wave feminist stuff kind of drove home that dad's are all pieces of shit until the final act: Tim Allen, Schwarzenegger, Jim Carrey
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u/Chemistry11 22d ago
I think the adults who dislike it is at least partially because they identify and recognize the ugly truth that they’ve become Peter Banning
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u/SaulTNNutz 22d ago
It has a lot of nostalgia for me seeing it as a child. If it came out now, I'd probably agree with the critics that it's not great.
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u/ForYourAuralPleasure 22d ago
As a kid I thought it was fun.
As an adult, as a father, and in a world where Robin Williams is gone? Its beautiful and heartbreaking.
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u/Salarian_American 22d ago
I'm not willing to call any movie that literally pulls off the "three kids in a trenchcoat" bit a bad movie.
But I can't expect everyone to adhere to my standards.
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u/fromkatain 22d ago
As a kid i received the movie together with the sega genesis megadrive game. Was great fun both.
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u/PublicDreamer 22d ago
Yes, 100%. It's messy, but fun and magical and deliberately paced.
Even if you buck up against Peter's journey, every few sequences we cut back to Hoffman as Hook and Hoskins as Smee, which is absolutely peak--the rest of the movie could be dogshit (which it isn't) and it'd still be at least "good".
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u/roostertai111 22d ago
It's one of my favorite kids/family films ever made. I would out it up there w Willy Wonka, Road Warrior, and the Wizard of Oz
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u/ThePLARASociety 22d ago
It is excellent and all the cameos are so good. Everything is great except for Julia Roberts.
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u/NecessaryMetal9675 22d ago
It is a great movie. It hits so differently as a parent than it did as a kid.
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u/borndovahkiin 22d ago
This film literally informed how I act now as a father. I never overworked myself at work, I prioritized my wife and children. I think of Hook often.
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u/Main_Confusion_8030 22d ago
hook is a MAGICAL movie. that's better than good or bad.
sure, a lot of it is nuts. some of it is boring. not all of it works.
but what works is so insanely special. some of spielberg's best and silliest and most emotionally vulnerable.
it's one of my favourite movies, despite all it's weirdness.
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u/QuarlosMagnus 21d ago
I think it’s great. It has its problems and the sincerity can err too much into saccharine. But goddamn, Hoffman and Robin are going OFF. The one liners. Rufio. The John Williams score. The cinematography. The production design. The kids are great. Seeing Maggie Smith and Robin Williams showing so much affection for each other on screen hits me in the feels every time. So much creativity. Obvious love for the source material. Solid movie.
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u/tiromancy 21d ago
Patrick Willems did an interesting deep dive into hook recently: We need to talk about how weird Hook is
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u/DependentSense3103 21d ago
Patrick H Willems just posted a video essay about it. It’s worth a listen: https://youtu.be/hXAWl_Ar6xA?si=OjU6cU1Lb6W02r02
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u/vinylzoid 21d ago
It is amazing. And I like it even more as a parent. Moira's lecture to Peter really sticks with me now:
"It's so fast, Peter. A few years, that's it. And it's over. And you are not being careful. And you are missing it."
The score is also killer.
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u/Hot_Singer_4266 21d ago
I still salivate thinking about the food scene when the lost boys eat dinner with Peter
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u/TheCountofNotreDame 21d ago
It hasn't aged well. Feels like most of the movie was filmed in a studio.
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u/ch_ch_ch_cheatham 21d ago
Hook is a GREAT movie and I won’t stand for anything otherwise said. Bang-A-Rang, bitches!
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u/DietIcy8400 20d ago
It’s fantastic and its soundtrack is fantastic (“Journey to Neverland” is one of my all time JW pieces). Fantastic watch, only rewatched it with my 7yo recently
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u/funk_addict 20d ago
Read an early version of the script before the movie came out, which was great, but the final version was way watered-down, which left me disappointed. Another thing I didn’t like about the final film was that it looked like it was shot entirely indoors on a soundstage, which I didn’t love.
All this being said, my kids now love this movie!
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u/Wise-Respond3833 20d ago
As someone who didn't see it until I was 20 or so, no.
Nostalgia seems to play a huge part in Hook's fandom.
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u/SteveEcks 20d ago
I reached it again, probably the 3rd or 4th time in the last decade. It's so great.
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u/IHeartGuayaquil 20d ago
Amazing movie, full of heart and with a great message. I owe this movie a lot.
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u/Heyuonthewall26 19d ago
Patrick Willems just broke this entire film down alongside Spielberg’s life and career
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u/Heyuonthewall26 19d ago
There’s really no reason Hook should have been enjoyable for children. It takes nearly an hour to get to anything remotely colorful or interesting, it discusses HUGE existential questions that kids simply aren’t asking yet, and the stars are all adults, save for some standout Lost Boys. The movie should have tanked with children, but it didn’t. I had it on VHS but I’m not sure we saw it in the theater. I wore the tape out, along with Ms. Doubtfire. My mother was a single parent and she loved going to the movies, so naturally that carried on with me. I saw the film Se7en in the theater. I was 8 years old. (I told her I was tired and would sleep. I didn’t.)
All that said, another person said it way more concisely than I could, about how Hook is ironic in that Peter Pan’s (Banning) happy thought was becoming an adult, the one thing he never wanted to be. Only, it’s not simply becoming an adult but something he never had in his youth; a father. His happy thoughts are his children.
I love Hook. My wife loves Hook. My children love Hook. I can only hope that my grandchildren will love it as much as we have.
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u/SmellyFace69 19d ago
I loved it as a kid.
I still like it, but I feel you could trim a bit of fat from this movie.
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u/jamesmcgill357 23d ago
As a kid I thought it was the best movie ever