Hook

Hook, released in 1991, directed by Steven Spielberg, is the story of Peter Pan, who fell in love with Wendy's granddaughter and grew up and married her. Now with kids of their own, Peter (Robin Williams) has forgotten who he was, and just thinks that he was an orphan that Wendy (Maggie Smith) helped to find a family. He grew up to be a lawyer who has no time or patience for his kids. Until, he visits Wendy with his family and Captain Hook (Dustin Hoffman) kidnaps his kids and takes them to Neverland. The fairy Tinkerbell (Julia Roberts) tries to help Peter to remember who he is, so that he can fight Hook and save his kids. The theme of this film is a familiar one, it was a very popular theme in films and music of that time. The story brings attention to the fact that in modern society, we are too focused on our careers and making money that we forget about the things that actually matter, like our family and our children. The story is overly sentimental, and almost preachy on the subject. The film has a nice balance of heavy drama and silly comedy, which should appeal to audiences of all ages. However it did not. The critics almost unanimously hated this film, as it seems does Steven Spielberg. My memories of this film were always positive, I remember loving it when I was a kid, and I remember all of my friends loving it as well. Now watching it as an adult, I still feel the magic in it, and it actually brought a few tears to my eyes at the end of the film. As much as Spielberg seems to hate it, I also really love the practical effects, and the fact that the sets were all created on sound stages, so the characters actually interact with the sets rather than digital renderings of the sets, which is what he said he would do if making the film now. This film to me does stand the test of time, and I still feel magic and inspiration when I watch it. The casting was fantastically done, the Lost Boys were all fantastic, as were the three leading roles. Though Julia Roberts was criticized for her portrayal of Tinkerbell, I actually loved her as Tink, and matter of fact as a kid had a huge crush on her, and I still think she is so beautiful in that roll. Though the movie can get a bit heavy handed with the emotion and moral lessons, it is still great. I think the sets look beautiful and have an element of magic about them, they feel like they exist in a sort of dream. I also felt that the film had good pacing, and kept the viewer hooked into the story. This film was a classic of my childhood and most people that I know still have fond memories of it. Would I recommend this film? Yes, absolutely! I am not sure if kids these days will still feel the magic in it that I do, but this film has established a cult following, so hopefully parents are sharing it with their kids and keeping the magic alive. I feel like every kid should see this classic film.