Hook (film)

Hook is a 1991 American fantasy adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by James V. Hart and Malia Scotch Marmo. It stars Robin Williams as Peter Banning / Peter Pan, Dustin Hoffman as Captain Hook, Julia Roberts as Tinker Bell, Bob Hoskins as Mr. Smee, Maggie Smith as Granny Wendy and Charlie Korsmo as Jack Banning. It serves as a sequel in a modern day setting to J. M. Barrie's 1911 novel Peter and Wendy, focusing on an adult Peter Pan who has forgotten his childhood due to his high-powered lifestyle. In his new life, he is known as Peter Banning, a successful but career-minded lawyer who neglects his wife (Wendy's granddaughter) and their two children. However, when his old archenemy, Captain Hook, kidnaps his children, he returns to Neverland to save them. Along the journey, he reclaims the memories of his past and develops full emotional maturity.

Spielberg began developing Hook in the early 1980s with Walt Disney Productions and Paramount Pictures. It would have followed the Peter Pan storyline seen in the 1924 silent film and Disney Animation's 1953 film. It entered pre-production in 1985, but Spielberg abandoned the project. Hart developed the script with director Nick Castle and TriStar Pictures before Spielberg decided to direct in 1989. It was shot almost entirely on sound stages at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California.

Released on December 11, 1991, Hook received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the performances (particularly those of Williams and Hoffman), John Williams' musical score, and the film's production values, but criticized the screenplay, tone, and runtime. The film also received five nominations at the 64th Academy Awards. Although the film was a commercial success and became the fourth-highest-grossing film of 1991, it failed to meet the studio's expectations. Since its release, Hook gained a strong cult following, and it is considered by many to be a cult classic.

Plot

Peter Banning, a workaholic lawyer fixated on success, has a strained relationship with his wife, Moira, and their children, 9-year-old Jack and 6-year-old Maggie, due to his constant absences and broken promises. During Christmas, the family travels to London to visit Moira's grandmother, Wendy Darling, who cared for Peter as an orphan. When Peter loses his temper with the children for interrupting a work call, Moira scolds him, reminding him how fleeting their time with the children is. During a dinner honoring Wendy's work with orphans, Jack and Maggie stay home with her old friend, Tootles. Returning from the event, Peter and Moira discover the children are missing, with a note left behind in their nursery signed by Captain James Hook.

Wendy divulges to Peter his true childhood identity, Peter Pan, and urges him to return to Neverland to rescue his children because only he can. Having no memory of his childhood, Peter does not believe her until the fairy Tinker Bell arrives and flies him to Neverland. In the pirate town, Peter confronts Hook, who fails to recognize his once formidable rival. Hook challenges Peter to fly and save his children, but Peter fails. Dismayed at how pathetic Peter has become, Hook orders his execution, but Tinker Bell convinces him to give her three days to train Peter for their final battle.

Peter is brought to the Lost Boys' hideout, now led by Rufio. They mock the grown man before them until the group ultimately recognizes him. They begin training Peter, urging him to abandon his uptight adult demeanor and embrace his imagination. Meanwhile, Hook's first mate, Smee, suggests turning Jack and Maggie against Peter. Maggie resists, but Jack, hurt by Peter's broken promises and failure to save him, begins to side with Hook.

While infiltrating the pirate town, Peter sees Jack playing in a baseball game organized by Hook, who has taken on a fatherly role. Devastated, Peter returns to the Lost Boys' camp with renewed determination. His shadow leads him to the ruins of Wendy's house, where he remembers his past: as an infant in the early 1900s, he ran away from his mother, fearing growing up and dying, and was brought to Neverland by Tinker Bell. Visiting his family later, he found they had a new child and assumed they had forgotten him. Peter met Wendy, who fell in love with him, but as she aged and started a family, Peter fell for her granddaughter, Moira, and remained with her. Recalling Jack's birth as his happiest memory, Peter regains his powers and ability to fly. That night, a heartbroken Tinker Bell confesses her unrequited love to Peter.

The next day, Peter and the Lost Boys launch an attack on the pirates. While Peter rescues Maggie, Rufio is fatally wounded in a duel with Hook. Witnessing Rufio's dying wish for a father like Peter, Jack reconciles with his father. Peter prepares to leave Neverland with his children, but Hook demands a final battle, vowing to eternally stalk Peter's descendants if denied. With help from Tinker Bell and the Lost Boys, Peter subdues Hook, who feigns surrender. Hook tries to stab Peter, but misses and impales the taxidermied Crocodile that once ate his hand. The Crocodile appears to come to life, topples over, and consumes Hook. Tinker Bell then returns Jack and Maggie home while Peter bids farewell to the Lost Boys, appointing Thud Butt as their new leader. Thud Butt gives Peter a bag of marbles that belonged to Tootles, a former Lost Boy.

Peter awakens in London, where Tinker Bell tearfully bids him farewell. Transformed by his journey, Peter joyfully reunites with his family and discards his work phone. He returns the bag to Tootles, who sprinkles the pixie dust within on himself and flies off to Neverland. When Wendy observes that Peter's adventures are over, he replies, "To live will be an awfully big adventure."

Cast

• Dustin Hoffman as Captain James Hook
  • Hoffman also voices the Pan Am pilot's announcement as a nod to the dual role element of Captain Hook and George Darling in the original play.
• Robin Williams as Peter Banning / Peter Pan
  • Ryan Francis as 8-year-old Peter Pan
  • Max Hoffman as young Peter Pan
  • Matthew Van Ginkel as baby Peter Pan
• Julia Roberts as Tinker Bell
  • Lisa Wilhoit as Tinker Bell in a flashback in which Peter is a baby
• Bob Hoskins as William Smee
  • Hoskins also portrays a street sweeper at Kensington Gardens
• Maggie Smith as Wendy Darling
  • Gwyneth Paltrow as teenage Wendy Darling
• Charlie Korsmo as Jack Banning, Peter and Moira's son
• Amber Scott as Maggie Banning, Peter and Moira's daughter
• Caroline Goodall as Moira Banning, Peter's wife, Jack and Maggie's mother, and Wendy's granddaughter
• Geoffrey Lower as Brad, Peter's co-worker
• Kelly Rowan as Peter's mother
• Dante Basco as Rufio, the leader of the Lost Boys
• Jasen Fisher as Ace
• Raushan Hammond as Thud Butt
• Isaiah Robinson as Pockets
• James Madio as Don't Ask
• Arthur Malet as Tootles
• Laurel Cronin as Liza, Granny Wendy's maid
• Phil Collins as Inspector Good
• Alex Zuckerman as Latchboy
• Thomas Tulak as Too Small
• Ahmad Stoner as No Nap
• Nick Tate as Noodler

In addition, a number of celebrities and family members made brief credited and uncredited cameos in the film: musicians David Crosby and Jimmy Buffett, actress Glenn Close, and former boxer Tony Burton appear as members of Hook's pirate crew; Star Wars creator George Lucas and actress Carrie Fisher play the kissing couple sprinkled with pixie dust.

Production

Inspiration

Steven Spielberg found a close personal connection to Peter Pan's story from his own childhood. The troubled relationship between Peter Banning and his son Jack in the film echoed Spielberg's relationship with his own father Arnold. Previous Spielberg films that explored a dysfunctional father-son relationship included E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Peter's "quest for success" paralleled Spielberg starting out as a film director and transforming into a Hollywood business magnate. "I think a lot of people today are losing their imagination because they are work-driven. They are so self-involved with work and success and arriving at the next plateau that children and family almost become incidental. I have even experienced it myself when I have been on a very tough shoot and I've not seen my kids except on weekends. They ask for my time and I can't give it to them because I'm working."

Like Peter at the beginning of the film, Spielberg has a fear of flying. He feels that Peter's "enduring quality" in the storyline is simply to fly. "Anytime anything flies, whether it's Superman, Batman, or E.T., it's got to be a tip of the hat to Peter Pan," Spielberg reflected in a 1992 interview. "Peter Pan was the first time I saw anybody fly. Before I saw Superman, before I saw Batman, and of course before I saw any superheroes, my first memory of anybody flying is in Peter Pan".

Pre-production

The genesis of the film started when Spielberg's mother often read him Peter and Wendy as a bedtime story. He explained in 1985, "When I was 11 years old, I actually directed the story during a school production. I have always felt like Peter Pan. I still feel like Peter Pan. It has been very hard for me to grow up, I'm a victim of the Peter Pan syndrome".