In Defense of ‘Hook’

Is it a great movie? No. Do I love it anyway? Yes.

Hook is not Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece. In plenty of ways, it’s kind of a mess.

The script resorts to lawyer jokes and fat jokes, which are just lazy. The Lost Boys are annoying. And how do they even remember Peter Pan after such a long absence, given the memory-killing properties of Neverland? One of them even clearly remembers Toodles, who’s now an old man living in London. Also, the final battle drags on a bit too long. The crocodile is weirdly stiff for a creature alive enough to devour Captain Hook, who obligingly stands precisely where its jaws are coming down.

But for all its faults, Hook remains a highly enjoyable family film. Look past the mess, and there’s a lot to like.

The movie shares a key theme with Mary Poppins. Despite all the popping in and out of chalk pavement pictures and having tea parties on the ceiling, Mary Poppins is ultimately about the father, Mr. Banks, who’s gotten so absorbed in his work and routines that he’s lost sight of what it’s all for. Mary Poppins shows up to save his soul and bring the family closer together.

Hook, too, is ultimately about a father who’s lost his way and needs to rediscover how much he truly loves his family. It just so happens that in this case, the father used to be Peter Pan.

Peter Pan is now Peter Banning, a big-money acquisitions lawyer—a sort of corporate pirate, if you will—who prioritizes work above all else and has no memory of his adventurous childhood. He’s out of shape. He answers his big clunky 1991 cell phone during his daughter’s play. He misses his son’s baseball game. The man even fears heights. But when Captain Hook kidnaps his kids, Peter Banning must venture to Neverland and become Peter Pan once more. Or rather, Tinkerbell must drag him there kicking and screaming.

The cast is early ’90s perfection. No one was better suited for playing a grown-up Peter Pan than Robin Williams. Dustin Hoffman was a less obvious choice for Captain Hook, but he chews up every scrap of scenery so gamely that he made himself perfect for the role. Julia Roberts brightens the screen as a rather animated Tinkerbell, and Bob Hoskins hams it up as Smee. Maggie Smith ages a few decades to play an elderly Wendy, and we even glimpse Gwyneth Paltrow as a young Wendy in a before-they-were-stars cameo.

Plus, as expected, John Williams delivers an excellent score that enhances the movie.

At first glance, calling the movie “Hook” might seem illogical since the story is basically Peter Pan 2: Return to Neverland. But even though it’s about Peter Pan, Captain Hook drives much of the action. He sets the plot into motion by kidnapping the kids, and he further complicates matters by trying to get the kids to love him instead of their parents. And when it’s time for the final battle, Hook is the one who wants to keep fighting until the bitter end.

Peter wants no part of any Neverland adventure. He just wants to rescue his kids and get on with his life. His first line of defense is his checkbook, which Hook promptly shoots out of his hands. From there, Peter rapidly becomes pitiful, failing to save his kids from the pirates’ net because he can’t reach just a few more inches. His kids are right there, pleading with him, and he’s useless.

Because Peter Banning is so useless, Tinkerbell needs to pick up his slack at first. She is Peter’s guide to Neverland. She carries him back there, stops Hook from killing him outright, and advocates for him to the Lost Boys. She believes in him even when he doesn’t believe in himself.

This makes Hook’s Tinkerbell different from the one J.M. Barrie depicted in his original 1911 novel. In the book, she’s capriciousness personified—even more capricious than Peter Pan himself—capable of only a single feeling at a time, either all good or all bad depending on her mood. Hook, however, requires a more well-adjusted and vocal Tinkerbell.

Hook takes the biggest liberty by allowing Peter Pan to grow up at all. It violates the central premise of the novel, summed up right in the opening line: “All children, except one, grow up.” Here, that one exception grew up too (but some Lost Boys are still holding out, apparently).

The movie also undoes this poignant ending:

There could not have been a lovelier sight; but there was none to see it except a little boy who was staring in at the window. He had ecstasies innumerable that other children can never know; but he was looking through the window at the one joy from which he must be for ever barred.

As I’ve previously written, Peter Pan is a tragic figure in the novel, and he’s heroic only when it suits him. Wendy is the novel’s real hero, as she rescues her brothers and the Lost Boys from perpetual childhood in Neverland, the arrester of all development.

So, the movie is asking, “Okay, sure, but what if Peter Pan did grow up?”

That’s a perfectly fair “What if?” question. It doesn’t have to replace the original story. It just explores a possibility, and a Peter Pan who grew up is an interesting possibility.

Peter Banning is not interesting. If not for Robin Williams softening him up, he wouldn’t be the least bit likable. Williams restrains himself for a large chunk of the movie. We see the occasional glimmer of his infectious energy and the child within, such as when he and a work colleague draw their clunky cell phones like Wild West gunslingers. But the movie makes us wait for the Robin Williams (and Peter Pan) that we know and love. And the payoff soars.

The high point is when Peter finally figures out his happy thought and rediscovers how to fly. The scene provides wonderful catharsis and pure joy. Williams is finally able to cut loose (John Williams too).

Though the final battle doesn’t know when to end, it starts out as tremendous fun. A revitalized Peter Pan returns to the pirate ship in a triumphant, satisfying moment, and his daughter’s reaction to seeing this side of him is amusing.

In a nice touch, once Peter has his kids back in his arms, he has no reason to continue the fight and feels no need to utterly demolish Captain Hook. In a show of maturity, he simply walks away from the bully, whose confinement to Neverland is punishment enough. It might have been better to end the scene there—turn Hook into the tragic villain while Peter gets to have his happy ending after all—but Hook threatens his family, so Peter must defend them.

In the movie’s final scene, Peter is again trapped outside the window while a happy family reunites on the other side. But only briefly. This time, he’s allowed in.

Here, the script flips one of the novel’s memorable lines around. Instead of “To die will be an awfully big adventure,” Peter concludes the movie by saying, “To live will be an awfully big adventure.”

Peter Pan has come full circle. The boy who was so terrified of growing up is now a man who looks forward to the future.

If you want to watch a great movie inspired by Peter Pan, watch Finding Neverland. If you want to have a fun time inspired by Peter Pan, watch Hook.