Hook

Perhaps the most personal film by this big child. Steven wanted to resolve his childhood traumas and made a somewhat overwrought and infantile, but definitely entertaining film. Although his moralizing, especially at the end, is a bit annoying, seeing Dustin Hoffmann as Hook is really worth it. (04.01.2003)

Magic fades with age. And just as Peter Pan had to grow up, I see more and more negativity in Hook. Not only is the main hero stuck in an irritatingly unmagical shell for far too long, but children unpleasantly quickly forget about their parents, and in Neverland they even play baseball, which I consider to be the most treacherous anti-British betrayal by the screenwriters. Fortunately, the flying mood still remains in me because Tinkerbell has become more gentle with us, and Gwyneth Paltrow as the aging Wendy is something so charming that the enchantment of the storytelling cannot be expressed any better. As a result of 70% and rounding up for each of us who never wanted to grow up. (14.04.2005)

Unfortunately, one of Steven Spielberg's weakest films. The production design is truly stunning, the visuals are fantastic, and the whole thing has a very strong fairy tale atmosphere. Spielberg also plays masterfully with light and shadows and has a lot of fun with the camera. However, what he achieved in terms of visuals, he lost in terms of content. (03.04.2005)

I wasn't expecting anything great, but I was still a bit surprised by its overall mediocrity; definitely the weakest Spielberg film I've seen so far. Yet I wouldn't completely dismiss it by any means. The main cast alone is a joy to watch, Hoffman and Williams in particular breath heart and soul into their roles, and it’s only thanks to them that the visuals don’t completely overwhelm the story. Spielberg obviously wanted to treat himself and made a very easygoing and cheerful adventure. It didn’t get a higher rating for me, but I will always remember it in a good way. 65% (21.12.2012)

A straight-up bad movie. All the things that Spielberg is faulted for (sentimentality, emphasis on family values, infantilism) are actually the cornerstones of the whole film here. Completely odd dramaturgy, which means that kids just don't get to see the passages that are more or less geared only towards them without fast forwarding. All the scenes are longer than they should be, the same information is fed to us several times through the film, and above all, it's all so unabashedly artificial that you feel more like you're watching strangers enjoy themselves on a ride at Disney World. Spielberg is apparently trying to create something like playgrounds into which he inserts a plot, but he doesn't know, or has forgotten, that the best children's games never took place in environments created for children, but instead in the real world, onto which you can pin any story you want if you don't understand it well enough. Two stars for Hook's double-tipped cigar. (11.01.2022)

Yes, John Williams is repeating himself here. Steven Spielberg is incredibly sentimental, as always, but that doesn't matter because it's not about these two creators, but about the incredible joy of being a child again, of being able to put on that green outfit and just fly. If there was a film that I adored in my childhood, it was this one. And that magic is still here. I am still excited about Neverland and I would love to fly and have a meal with the characters. (03.03.2015)

Even though Dustin Hoffman plays a purely negative role here, his character has incredible panache and his (in)sincerity is actually quite appealing. Robin Williams kind of goes by his standard. It's certainly not one of Spielberg's top films, but what I liked was the honesty and lightness with which the whole story is conceived. If Spielberg put that much ease and flair into all his films... well, who knows.:) As a filmmaker, Spielberg has my immense respect (for at least three exceptional films) and it should be noted that he has stamped his signature on this unpretentious diversion as well (though not as prominently, of course). Hook is the kind of classy fairy tale that, instead of fooling and corrupting children's aesthetic sensibilities, can offer some lessons that (at least from my perspective) are neither stupid nor naive. (14.04.2012)