Rating: 
Summary: Great message to an over-achieving friend/executive
Review: My child found this film enchanting at age six. I found the underlying message about parents missing their children's childhood in their pursuit of success very real. So, forget the Walt Disney version, and get set for an adult lesson about being a parent and about that part of us that will always live in Never-Never Land. Lest we forget, we are all kids at heart.
Rating:
Summary: 'Hook' Leaves You Astonished!
Review: Hook has to be one of the most mysterious & captivating versions Pan ever constructed. Spielberg leaves you wanting to know more, about Pan's past & the unknown paradise that is Neverland. Dustin Hoffman gives a brillant performance as Captain James Hook, striking the audience with both pity & hate for the evil sea captain, Hook seems to be more evil than in the Disney animated classic, bringing the story a believable villian. Julia Roberts also gives a captivating performance as Tinker Bell, bringing the fictionous fairy to life, & Bob Hoskins as Smee brought a little comedic relieve to the dark fortress of the Jolly Rodger. Robin Williams was excellnt as Peter Banning but so-so as he soon began to relize that he was Pater Pan. The Lost Boys add a nice touch to the film too, especially Rufeo who brings a little mystery to boys. The score takes the slap-stick & mystery to the movie & rolls them completly into one magnificent soundtrack. The film is excellent in nearly every aspect, even the child stars, from the Lost Boys to Maggie & Jack (Pan's children) bring the story to life with their stunning portrayal of their characters. A must for your collection perfect for the family or yourself it's sure to haunt you & leave you completely inquisitiive & stunned by the ending.
Rating: 
Summary: "Rufio! Rufio! Rufioooooooooooooo!"
Review: Why has this film been criticized? There's nothing to complain about Steven Spielberg's "Hook." It should be a classic; most people don't remember that it was nominated for a whole slew of Oscars.
First off, I'll cover the visuals. They're wonderful. The depiction of Neverland was incredible to behold. The effects and flying scenes nearly took my breath away, and the score by John Williams is truly magical.
And the performances worked. Robin Williams was a great choice for Peter Pan, and Dustin Hoffman hammed it up to perfection as Captain Hook. The story was pretty interesting, too. Peter Pan has lived his worst nightmare: he grew up, and has become a corporate "pirate." One night, while visiting Wendy (Maggie Smith) in London with his family, Captain Hook infiltrates the real world and kidnaps Peter's children. Even though he can't remember who he once was, Peter is aided by Tinker Bell (Julia Roberts), and journeys to Neverland to rescue his kids. The Lost Boys were hilarious, and Bob Hoskins stole the show as Hook's crooked assistant, Smee.
"Hook" is a film that people of all ages can enjoy. A rare combination of acting, storytelling, and visuals, we should add another movie to Spielberg's list of classics. This is magical, old-school entertainment at its best.
Rating:
Summary: One man and the search for his inner child...a great message
Review: For a movie going on lucky 13 years old, it's still as fun to watch as it was the first time I saw it in the theaters. Peter Banning is a well off American lawyer married to the great grandaughter of Wendy Moira Angela Darling...Mora Darling. He also has two kids, Jack and Maggie. However, supporting for his family has become a full time job and as such he's forgotten all about having an imagination, playing with his kids, spending time with his family, and enjoying his life. And in the middle of all of this, there's Capt. James S. Hook, life long enemy of Peter Pan (Banning, though unbeknownst to him). In an act of vengeance, he kidnaps Banning's kids in the night, and tinkerbell comes home to bring Peter back to Never Neverland and make Peter remember the life he left behind and the fight that was never finished. Mr. Spielberg went all out on this movie, and it shows. There's a lot of heart and soul here from the pirate ships to the lost boys hideout to London and back again. At the same time, there's a lot of heart in both the screenplay and the actors embodiment of the characters. I don't think there will ever be a Hook as good as the one that Dustin Hoffman has done in this film, Bob Hoskins is always a pleasure to watch and his comedic timing is near perfect, causing everything from a slight chuckle to uproarious laughter to pass your lips after each scene he's in, and William's Peter Banning/Pan, while extrodinarily silly and misguided at times, comes around brilliantly, and the first time you watch him fly you can't help but grin from ear to ear. The child talent is always a risky business, but if you accept that the kids are not going to be the best actors in the world, you realize that most of them do the script justice, whether they know they are or not. Charlie Korsmo, along with Dante Basco, are clearly the most talented, carrying their scenes with Williams and Hoffman very well. John Williams score is as wonderful as it ever was (you can hear some of the framework for the Harry Potter music in this particular score)... And finally, there's the message..."never grow up". It's the same message from the original movie, but how it gets there is slightly different. As we watch Peter Banning remember and relive the life he left behind, we realize what he realizes; growing old doesn't mean you have to grow up...and you have to live...for that is the "great adventure". At 2 hours and 20 minutes, the movie drags here and there a bit from time to time. And on no fault of the original production, the special effects of the film have not held up as well as they could have in the last 13 years. The movie is starting to look it's age. But I think no matter how old this movie gets, there will always be people who will be taken back by the simple premise of this movie and embrace it for the wonderful way it's taken the original Peter Pan story to a whole new level...and beyond.
Rating:
Summary: LONG LIVE THE HOOK!!
Review: The very concept of family entertainment just doesn't get better than this film!! I have to admit, I've never actually seen the original Disney version of Peter Pan but after watching this "remake" I would have to believe that the audience would probably get a stronger feel for the underlining power of the messages the original story is trying to bring out. And in my opinion, there's not a single filmmaker in history that can bring these kinds of messages to the screen better than Steven Spielberg!! Here we have a grown up Peter Banning taken back to his "roots", shall we say, as Peter Pan as well as to rescue his kids from the infamous Captian Hook in never neverland. Along the way he rediscovers the true power of childhood friendship and imagination. IMHO Spielberg is really at his best working with this kind of material. He's always done a great job at balancing out visually and emotionally the "earthly" world from the childlike essence of his "outer" world and even at times, bringing them together(Jurassic Park). I don't think you have to look any farther than Close Encounters of the Third Kind for evidence of that. I think Spielberg is one that really gets a kick out of playing with our emotions. I even remembered during an interview that when talking about a scene from Close Encounters, he really never considered the rationality of the scene as much as how he thought it would look visually or feel emotinally. Kinda brings note to how we experience the world as a child in the first place!! And not to take anything away from his ability to tell stories about the real world because there's absolutely no denying the power of classics such as Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, or The Color Purple. But it is indeed his fascination and understanding of childlike innocence that, along with this beautiful film, brings out the child in all of us!!
Rating: 
Summary: A decent piece of family fun
Review: Contrary to popular misconception, this is not another Peter Pan film. This is very much a "what if" film, based upon the premise of what would happen to a Peter Pan, so heavily dependent upon "never growing old", if he were to grow old and forget his past. It makes an interesting contrast to the oft-repeated Peter Pan story.
Peter Banning (Robin Williams) is an obviously successful businessman, specializing in corporate hit and run raids it seems. In a depressingly common situation, he is slowly alienating his lovely wife Moira (Caroline Goodall) and children, due to his increasing obsession with his work. He also seems to be slowly forgetting his roots as an orphan, saved by Granny Wendy (Maggie Smith), the grandmother of his wife. So when he returns to England with his family to attend the dedication of a new wing at a children's hospital in Wendy's honour, he seems to be less focused on family than he should be. But he is shocked out of his monomania by the kidnapping of his children, by none other than Captain James Hook (Dustin Hoffman), and even more shocked when Wendy forces him to understand that he is actually the Peter Pan and that he has to go after the children. Slowly getting pickled on some alcoholic sustenance, he is further forced to confront his past when Tinkerbell (Julia Roberts) arrives to drag him off to Never Neverland. No mean task for a guy who has forgotten everything about how he used to fly and why he did it anyway. Suffice it to say, he heads off to Never Neverland where the inevitable (less than successful) rekindling of relationships with Captain Hook and The Lost Boys takes place, with Tinkerbell and The Lost Boys taking on the task of trying to get Peter to remember everything about his past so that we can have the climatic battle between good and bad.
As long as one approaches the film not expecting a retelling of the classic Peter Pan story, then I have always felt that this was a decent piece of family fun, mixed with a decent dollop of good old family values. To return to it on DVD in all its widescreen glory is a delight after years of surviving on a rather mediocre VHS tape. There is obvious enthusiasm for the project from all concerned here, as the film moves along at a quite decent pace, despite its two hour plus length. The story could perhaps have been aided by a little judicious pruning here and there, but the cast have done a commendable job with what they were given to work with. Robin Williams is his usual sterlingly reliable self in the lead role, without going over the top - which would have been quite easy to do methinks. I have always found this a rather refreshingly different performance from Dustin Hoffman (he copped a Golden Globe nomination for it) and for some reason find him completely convincing as the Hook trying to recapture something that has long gone. The less said about Julia Roberts here the better, although it must have been difficult in a role where basically you would have been doing everything solo for insertion later into a shot. The highlight for me though is Bob Hoskins. Obviously the film is heavily based upon effects work at times, and to be honest the work is showing up its age a little now. However, it remains a rather decent piece of effects work overall.
Rating:
Summary: Simply a Wonderful Movie...
Review: I have to admit I love this movie and I do not know if I'll ever be able to refuse a chance to watch it. Is it absolute perfection and worthy of the award for best picture?? No. Is it a movie that is extremely well done, with a strong cast, and a great plot? Yes. Okay, it puts an odd twist on the Peter Pan story...he has grown up and lost his inner child. The original story of Peter Pan has been bent and twisted and mangled so many times over the past 100 years, however, that this adaptation does not bother me at all...in fact, it adds to the movie's meaning. If Peter Pan can grow up and forget how to be a child, then it can happen to anyone. Any one of us can lose that joy and innocence we find in the freedom of childhood. The good news is we can always find it again if we look hard enough. It takes some time and some hard work in this movie to help Peter realize the boy that he is inside...but he does get there.He rediscovers those things that truly made him happy and free in life. Children are always entertained by this movie and it has some very true themes and lessons for adults to learn. It is one of my favorite films, one of the most under-rated movies out there today, and it should be considered a modern classic. It is just too late to worry about Barrie's original tale being tampered with....it is beyond repair at this point. My advice is to get that book, read it, teach the original story to your children...then enjoy this one as a family. You will all enjoy it very much!
Rating: 
Summary: Hideously over-produced, loud, garish spectacle
Review: When our son was about 7, he received this movie as a gift, and watched it pretty frequently. The other day it occurred to me, as the now 10-year-old boy was watching some movie, that he hadn't pulled "Hook" out of its case in about 2 years or so. I was finally able to put a finger on what had always annoyed me about this movie --- it is the sort of movie that an 8-year-old would produce, given an appropriate budget.
The sets are pretty spectacular, but seem to be an end in and of themselves. The presentation is simply relentless, and seems more focused on launching an all-out assault on the senses of the hapless movie viewer. Lost in all the hubbub & spectacle is a coherent plot. Apparently, the surface details are more important than a storyline, decent performances, etc. I doubt our son will be watching this anymore, and for this I am grateful.
Rating:
Summary: Hook is one of the greatest stories ever told...
Review: I used to watch this movie every day when I was younger on VHS, and I got the DVD last month and have watched it 3 times since getting it. (Buena Girl has it now, but I don't know if she's watched it...I hope she likes it as much as I do). I always liked the story of Peter Pan, but I especially liked this version. It is a real moving film, with it's emotional parts that are very important for both kids and adults to relate with, such as family issues, and having the courage to stand up for yourself to overcome overwhelming odds. It also, true to all Peter Pan stories, allows you to realize that theres a kid inside of all of us, and what this movie does that others don't do, is allow us to see that even though the kid in us is hard to find once we get older, it is still there and if we look hard enough we will find it. A great movie!!!
Rating:
Summary: a sequel of peter pan? ^_^
Review: First of all, I think this movie is not bad, but not too good either by comparing many other spielberg's movies. I watched the movie back in 1991 when it came out, I didnt realize its directed by Spielberg until just a while ago surfing in Amazon!
Anyway, I just found it really interesting that this movie can work as a sequel of "Peter Pan" the other Pan movie made in 2004, it pick up perfectly where "peter pan" left off. Peter sent Wendy and the kids back home at the end of "peter pan", he come back later try to visit Wendy again, but this time in "hook", Wendy has become an old lady as its been past 50 years since his last visit in earth time! Peter then fall in love with her grand daughter and stays and gets old and so the story of "hook" begins...
I mean how obvious this movie can work as a sequel and it was made 12 years before the first story. ^^
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