I'm not one of the people fortunate enough to catch this in the theaters. I am, however, one of the people who loudly objects to the negative critical response to this film.
Peter Pan growing up is a wonderfully refreshing concept and saying "it adds nothing to the Peter Pan mythos" confuses me to no end. The beautiful practical sets would never have come to pass in an age where Spielberg and Lucas have gone crazy with the CGI and accusing them of being cartoony is rather superfluous seeing as Peter Pan's not exactly known for its realism. The actors all turn in decent performances, the best being Robin William's uptight Peter Banning and childlike Peter Pan, Dustin Hoffman's deliciously evil Captain Hook, and Bob Hoskins. Nothing to say about Bob Hoskins; if he's on screen, he's giving it his all.
I deduct points from the film do to the third act with the war, not because the Lost Boys use incredibly implausible weapons to fight the pirates but because Peter stops being savvy about Hook, there's a rather unnecessary dark moment during an otherwise cartoony climax, and about a half dozen inconsistencies appear in the span of five minutes. But, other than that, Hook is a brilliant film and its "Rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes is simply a travesty, for not only is it a heartfelt Spielberg experience, but when the movie wants to be funny, it's REALLY funny. Listen not to the critics unless they are Jim Sterling or Doug Walker, because this film is one of the best.
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