Year: 1991
Rating: PG
Starring: Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman, Caroline Goodall, Maggie Smith, Julia Roberts
Peter Banning (Williams) seems to have a great life. He’s got two wonderful children, Jack and Maggie, and a loving wife, Moira (Goodall). The problem? He’s never around to enjoy them. He works too much, and consequently misses out on important events, like Jack’s latest baseball game that he promised to attend.
But one night, while Peter and Moira are attending an event, Jack and Maggie are kidnapped by none other than Captain Hook (Hoffman). Peter doesn’t want to believe, but the evidence is irrefutable in the guise of Tinkerbell. Wendy (Smith), Moira’s grandmother, tells Peter and implores him to remember that he wasn’t just any orphan, but he was Peter Pan. She recalls for him the events that brought him to London and how they met in Neverland, and although Peter wouldn’t stay with Wendy, he visited her every year and she slowly grew up. Many years passed and one day he returned to find that Wendy was an old woman, with children and grandchildren of her own. And that’s when Peter saw Moira. Even though Wendy didn’t want him to, for fear he would break Moira’s heart, Peter gave her a kiss- a real one, and decided to stay in London and grow up.
Peter doesn’t really remember, but finds it hard to ignore the flying 6” tall fairy. Tinkerbell (Roberts) sprinkles Peter with pixie dust and together they fly to Neverland. Once there, with help from the Lost Boys, Peter tries to remember who he really is and struggles to find his happy thought so that he can fly on his own and defeat Hook once and for all. One of my favorite scenes in the movie is when he is getting reacquainted with the Lost Boys, and one little boy is staring at Peter, trying to see “the Pan” in him. After moving his face around, the boy moves Peter’s face into a smile. The boy smiles and says “There you are, Peter.” It’s such a sweet scene and wonderfully acted by both the boy and Williams.
Meanwhile, Hook needles his way into Jack’s heart and decides that the ultimate revenge on Peter would be to turn his children against him. Maggie resists Hook, but Hook plays into Jack’s anger at his father, and he starts to forget about him.
“Hook” is a great, bittersweet adventure that is a great family film. There is a surprising death, however, that may unsettle younger viewers (it unsettled me, and I watched it in my teens). It’s a little long for young children, but the flying, swashbuckling and the food fight scene will keep older children watching.