Product Details

• Actors: Dustin Hoffman
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Number of discs: 1
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (172 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00164CLXS

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Steven Spielberg's deeply flawed but sporadically fun and moving update of the Peter Pan legend stars Robin Williams as the grown-up Pan, a corporate-takeover type who must embrace his old identity in order to save his kids from Captain Hook (Dustin Hoffman). The stars put on a good show, including Hoffman's read of Hook's hysterical personality, Julia Roberts mini-turn as a tiny Tinker Bell, and Maggie Smith's touching performance as the aged Wendy. The visual contrast between the adult Pan's bustling outside world and the insulated fantasy of Neverland is striking, but Spielberg's ideas about the Lost Boys--politically correct in their ethnic diversity, energetic on skateboards--are contrived and cheapening. On the plus side, the story's theme about adults finding their innocence again through their children is very touching (though some people have found it cloying). If you can look beyond the glaring problems, there's plenty to like here. --Tom Keogh

From The New Yorker
Steven Spielberg's film means to give a contemporary spin to J. M. Barrie's classic "Peter Pan." The movie is a failure in almost every way, but it's unmistakably of our time: its lack of conviction and its panicky eagerness to please are depressingly up-to-the-minute. The script, by Jim V. Hart and Malia Scotch Marmo, presents Peter Pan as a grown-up American family man named Peter Banning (Robin Williams). Banning, a yuppie corporate lawyer, has no idea that he was ever Peter Pan, and he's so wrapped up in making money that he neglects his wife and kids. The movie contrives to send him back to Neverland, where he rediscovers his former identity and does battle with his old nemesis, Captain Hook (Dustin Hoffman). The filmmakers seem unable (or unwilling) to keep their mind on the business of telling a rousing, fantastic adventure. They use up their energy and our patience in scattershot attempts to appeal to every conceivable audience. The whole sorry spectacle turns out to be a kind of self-help fairy tale, an illustrated lecture on finding the inner child. The picture is full of special-effects "magic," but the tricks feel strained; we're constantly aware of the anxiety and the backbreaking effort it's taking to produce them, and that's no kind of magic at all. Spielberg's inventiveness has a desperate quality here; the movie seems drenched in flop sweat. In this version of "Peter Pan," the imagination feels like a burden-a terrible, crushing obligation. Also with Maggie Smith, Julia Roberts, Bob Hoskins, Dante Basco, Caroline Goodall, Charlie Korsmo, and Amber Scott. The running time is two hours and fifteen minutes. -Terrence Rafferty
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

75 of 76 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars To see it will be an awfully big adventure., April 24, 2001

By	Jay Rudin (Dallas, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hook (Slip) [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The subtitle to the play "Peter Pan" is "The Boy Who Would Not Grow Up". Spielberg's sequel could well be called "The Man Who Grew Up Too Much". The story of Peter Pan is reversed, as are many roles. Robin Williams has the easy task of playing the thoughtless parent, the moderate task of playing the grownup Peter Pan, and the incredibly difficult task of making the transition between the two believable.

Dustin's Hoffman's Capt. Hook knows, as do all of us who remember his soliloquy, that no little children love him. His concern with how he will be remembered, and with Good Form, ring quite true to the original. The character is suave, urbane, vicious, captivating, and ultimately tragic.

At first I was annoyed at the modern elements in Never-Never-Land, but I soon realized that they had to be there, as Never-Never-Land was always a compilation of everything Lost Boys found exciting. In the twenties, that included Red Indians, but if they were lost in the 1980s, well then, baseball and skateboards should be included. The original play was Edwardian, but the movie makes no sense unless it's updated.

The role-reversal and eventual re-reversal is fascinating. In the play, the same actor always plays both Hook and the thoughtless and cruel father, Mr. Darling. But here, Peter is the uncaring father and a corporate pirate, while Hook takes the children to Never-Never-Land. The lost boys are, at first, quarrelsome and threatening, while the pirates are a happy adventuresome lot, even sentimental in the lullaby sequence. But while the Lost Boys help Peter recover himself (and to recover their own innocence), Hook's attempt to win over Peter's kids is, in the end, a failure, and we are brought full circle. The final scene of the helpless Hook surrounded by Peter and his boys parallels the earlier scene of the helpless Peter Banning surrounded by Hook and his pirates. ("Somebody lend me a hand." "I already have.")

The movie has one major flaw - most people don't know the Peter Pan legend well enough to really understand it. Seeing the play "Peter Pan" won't help much, either, because there's a lot in the storybook "Peter and Wendy", and in the play's stage directions, that enhances the understanding of the movie Hook. In a scene usually cut from the play, Peter sacrifices himself for Wendy, and thinks he is about to drown. His line is "To die will be an awfully big adventure." Later, when Wendy and the Lost Boys are leaving Never-Land, Peter is left alone, slumped in his chair. The stage directions state that at this point, if Peter only understood a little more, he would say, "To live would be an awfully big adventure." Hook is the story of how Peter finally learns that to live is, indeed, an awfully big adventure. Along the way, he must also discover what a Happy Thought for a grown-up is, and that a man with no childhood is as incomplete as a boy who would not grow up.

The pretend-food that was always Peter's favorite kind of meal is used to excellent effect. I found the first moment when Peter's adult façade started to break down surprisingly believable. He is in an insult contest, and losing badly, until he finds the intersection between his grownup life and the childish contest. He wins with the biggest, most impressive insult, ending with "... don't mess with me, man, I'm a lawyer."

Maggie Smith's Wendy fills in the roles of both Wendy and Mrs. Darling from the play. Her concern with the night-lights is especially fulfilling. We are also re-introduced to Tootles, who was the Lost Boy who always missed the adventure, and so he does again. Several times in the movie, the first time I saw it, I mouthed the dialogue along with the actors, because I knew that after Hook said, "Prepare to die", Peter had to reply, "Dark and sinister man, have at thee." There's a brief appearance of Michael's bear and John's top hat, which they took with them to Never-Never-Land so many years ago. Lisa and Nana return (Nana IX, really), and many other details make it a wonderful reunion. Bob Hoskins's Smee and Julia Roberts's Tinkerbell are true to the original, and yes, she says The Line She Had to Say.

Yes, Peter Pan grew up. But he didn't do it when he became a lawyer; he did it in Hook.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A magical movie to remind you of what's important, December 21, 1999

By	Sheri O. Zampelli "Author & Podcaster" (LA, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Hook (Slip) [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This movie is so much more than a children's fable. It is a magical reminder of how powerful each of us really is. The movie begins with Peter Banning (Attorney at Law) who forgets the truth of who he is. He becomes obsessed with success, drinks too much and avoids his family. Through a series of events he is forced to look within for the "real" him, Peter Pan. Peter Pan knows that all he has to do is think "one happy thought" and he can fly. I think this is true of all of us. The more we remember and honor who we are and the more we focus on the positive, the better life works. Peter Banning was a miserable, "fat old grandpa man" but when he remembers who he is, he's filled with boundless joy and energy. A very spiritual message indeed.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Neverending Magical Fairy Tale, November 5, 2001

By	Barry "Barrybgb" - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Hook (Slip) [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Steven Spielberg's Hook is a wondrous film full of great color and fantastic visuals. It's the kind of warm and fuzzy movie to be enjoyed time and again. Robin Williams stars as a grown up Peter Pan(now named Peter Panning), who doesn't remember who he really is. While on a trip to Old Wendy's place, his two children are kidnapped by Captain Hook. With the help of Julia Roberts as Tinkerbell, Peter has to go to Never Never Land to save his kids, battle Captain Hook, and realize that he is the one and only Peter Pan. The costumes are great, the sets are awe inducing, and the actors are all game. People, I ask you, who is better at playing at a person who refuses to grow up than Robin Williams?. I don't think the part could of been better cast. Dustin Hoffman as Captain Hook is an image to behold. It's a classic Hoffman performance. Keep an eye out for cameos by Phil Collins, Glenn Close, and a very young Gwynneth Paltrow. This movie should entertain kids and adults alike. Kids will cherish their youth, while adults will most definitley be transported back to a magical time to think about their own youth. This is a whimsical fairy tale that's a delight from the first to last frame. I can't believe why so many people have a deep disliking of this movie. Oh well. Their loss. Kudos to Spielberg for delivering a modern day fairy tale for viewers to cherish for years to come. I'm hooked!. Sorry.