|
Hook (1991)
Starring Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman, Julia Roberts, and Bob Hoskins. Cinematography by Dean Cundey. Edited by Michael Kahn. Produced by Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, and Gerald R. Molen. Written by James V. Hart, Nick Castle, and Malia Scotch Marmo. Directed by Steven Spielberg.
Peter Banning is a ruthless mergers and acquisitions lawyer who spends nearly all of his time working. One day he finally gets around to taking his family to London where they visit their Granny Wendy, who adopted Peter when he was twelve. Suddenly his children are missing and he finds a ransom note from a Captain Hook. Wendy then fills in the details of Peters forgotten past, including the fact that he is actually Peter Pan. With a renewed energy, and little pixie dust from Tinkerbell, Peter is on his way to battle the treacherous Captain Hook and rescue his children.
Peter Pan first made an appearance in James Matthew Barrie’s 1902 novel The Little White Bird, but it wasn’t until he was featured in the stage play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up in 1904 that the character’s popularity really took off. Barrie continued to refine Pan’s character until 1911 when he published Pan’s first novel adventure, Peter and Wendy. In 1924 Peter showed up in his first movie aptly called Peter Pan starring Betty Bronson. Walt Disney, who had seen the stage play when he was twelve, loved the film and sought to purchase the rights to the play and novel, which he finally did in 1939. Pre-production quickly began on the animated feature, but the film was put on hiatus upon the outbreak of World War II. Shortly after the end of the war Disney picked up where he left off and in 1953 his Peter Pan was released. Over the next forty years Peter Pan would show up in various forms including plays, novels, and television movies.
Steven Spielberg first thought about filming Peter Pan in live action in the early eighties, but nothing ever came of it. It wasn’t until he found Jim V. Hart’s modified version of the tale that the idea became a reality. Typical of a Spielberg production the project was filmed on an epic level filling nine massive sound stages, using a full sized reproduction of the Jolly Roger, and featuring a huge A-list cast of stars. But atypical of a Spielberg production was the over-inflated budget, the forty days over schedule, and the lackluster performances. Spielberg himself has even confessed disappointment with Hook. But with the hype of the overblown production behind us, one can look at Hook with a little less of a critical eye and at least appreciate it on a superficial level. Even if it holds little water in the long run, it’s worth a watch every now and again.
Budget: $70,000,000
Total US Gross: $119,654,823
Genre: Adventure
Runtime: 144 Minutes
US Release Date: 12/11/91
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Awards: Academy Awards: Nominated for best art direction/set decoration, best costume design, best visual effects, best makeup, and best original song. Golden Globes: Nominated for best actor in a musical or comedy.
Tagline: What If Peter Pan Grew Up?
Quote: “You're a... you're a complex Freudian hallucination having something to do with my mother and I don't know why you have wings, but you have very lovely legs and you're a very nice tiny person, and what am I saying? I don't know who my mother was, I'm an orphan, and I've never done drugs because I missed the sixties; I was an accountant.”
|
