Hook-A Premise Is Not A Screenplay
Steven Spielberg has already firmly established himself as a filmmaking legend. He could make ten crappy, crappy films and he would still be the great Spielberg, as long as he didn't go Jar-Jar bad, but that is pretty unlikely I think. Okay, fine and true, but let's face it Hook along with the strange film, Always just fail to live up to other of Spielberg's work. This is not to say that either of these two films are horrible, for they are not, they just aren't that inspired.
The plot of Hook is that Peter Pan is all grown up and must rescue his children from Captain Hook. Robin Williams plays Peter and Dustin Hoffman plays Hook. The two separate are tolerable in small doses, together, dear God, too much, way too much. Thus, the idea has promise, but the script itself is too full of clinches and predictable moments to leave a lasting positive impression. Hook is one of those stories that is so enamored with its own clever premise that it forgets that it must build a story around that premise and this is a shame, because at the heart of Hook there could have been a fun and interesting story.
Hook has its moments and there are some quality visuals. The problem is that the film just doesn't live up to the Spielberg name. No doubt the Spielberg name, the familiarity of the public with Peter Pan and the popularity of Robin Williams-this is 1991 folks, all add up to make Hook a slam dunk at the box-office. Hook isn't bad, it just isn't that good. Like so many scripts aimed at youngsters, Hook fails to try hard enough.
Story C- (A clever premise is half the battle, but the other half is execution.)
Acting B
Visuals B+
Originality/Innovation C-
Enjoyability Grade C
Home Theater/HD Factor B
Overall Grade C
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