Hook presents us with the interesting and unusual phenomenon of Spielberg not getting it right.
The idea is great - an adult Peter Pan, having eliminated the very notion of Neverland from his mind, has his children kidnapped by Captain Hook and has to return to Neverland where he rediscovers the childhood he had deliberately abandoned.
And there is much to like about the film, not least of which are Dustin Hoffman's mannered Hook, and Maggie Smith's frail and aged Wendy.
But when mistakes are made - and there are a number here - boy, are they whoppers! There are two huge casting mistakes among the principals. Julia Roberts is an absolutely awful Tinkerbell. Tinkerbell is a fairy, for heaven's sake. It's difficult to think of anyone more rooted in the real world than Julia Roberts, the least fairy-like actress I can think of (and whoever thought it would be a good idea to have a wincingly cloying scene of barely restrained loveydoveyness between Peter and Tinkerbell at the same size, should be locked up with no chance of ever getting near a word processor ever again. Preferably hide the pencils, too, just in case).
And, I hate to say it, because I understand why it looked good on paper, Robin Williams is pretty awful too. If anything, Williams plays it too straight. I believe his uptight adult business man with not enough time for his kids, but I never believed his rejuvenated Pan.
The Lost Boys don't convince, particularly the cockatoo-haired punk leader.
The special effects fall in a clumsy halfway house between dream-like sheer fantasy and real life, and the set-bound interiors are too busy. The whole thing has a garish cast to it as if someone turned up the colour intensity on the TV.
A misfire and, in Spielberg's filmography, only 1941 is a poorer effort.
The idea is great - an adult Peter Pan, having eliminated the very notion of Neverland from his mind, has his children kidnapped by Captain Hook and has to return to Neverland where he rediscovers the childhood he had deliberately abandoned.
And there is much to like about the film, not least of which are Dustin Hoffman's mannered Hook, and Maggie Smith's frail and aged Wendy.
But when mistakes are made - and there are a number here - boy, are they whoppers! There are two huge casting mistakes among the principals. Julia Roberts is an absolutely awful Tinkerbell. Tinkerbell is a fairy, for heaven's sake. It's difficult to think of anyone more rooted in the real world than Julia Roberts, the least fairy-like actress I can think of (and whoever thought it would be a good idea to have a wincingly cloying scene of barely restrained loveydoveyness between Peter and Tinkerbell at the same size, should be locked up with no chance of ever getting near a word processor ever again. Preferably hide the pencils, too, just in case).
And, I hate to say it, because I understand why it looked good on paper, Robin Williams is pretty awful too. If anything, Williams plays it too straight. I believe his uptight adult business man with not enough time for his kids, but I never believed his rejuvenated Pan.
The Lost Boys don't convince, particularly the cockatoo-haired punk leader.
The special effects fall in a clumsy halfway house between dream-like sheer fantasy and real life, and the set-bound interiors are too busy. The whole thing has a garish cast to it as if someone turned up the colour intensity on the TV.
A misfire and, in Spielberg's filmography, only 1941 is a poorer effort.