Hook-90's Fun With Captain Hook and Pals

Hook is probably not as good as a movie as I think it is. I watched the movie so much as a kid on my special taped copy (with commercials interrupting the action! I need to find that cassette and watch it…) However, I watched it again and found it to be a pleasant romp through a fantastical world. Steven Spielberg creates a very engrossing world, specifically the pirate town that Captain Hook lives in. At least I think it’s a town. It has the ship, a few bars, a brothel (???) but not much else. Oh and the baseball stadium, which probably was another brothel.  Robin Williams plays the serious Peter Banning well, and transforms into Peter Pan quite well, though it is kind of creepy to see Robin Williams clown around with small children and eat what appears to be cake frosting.  The Lost Boys are all very adorable, but they are pretty interchangeable, except for the round one (does he have a name? I prefer to think of him as the round one.) The pirates, on the other hand, are much more memorable. Dustin Hoffman is perfect as Captain James (Tiberius?) Hook, as is Bob Hoskins playing Smee. Hoffman reeks of sleazy charm and wit, and Hoskins play his toadie so well. And the pirates have a lot of star power as well, as David Crosby and Jimmy Buffet are part of Captain Hook’s crew. However, as fun as the cast and set is, the story is not very engrossing. The story seems to exist so that the Lost Boys can torture Robin Williams into being a better Pan.  A lot of the fun is the ridiculousness that goes on, and thinking of odd connections you can make with the cast. I prefer to think of this movie as the time Mrs. Doubtfire and Prince Zuko teamed up to fight Master Shifu and Mario.  Actually, I really want to see that. Hook many not be the best movie out there, but it is fun to watch. It has a surprising amount of good one liners, and a lot of light-hearted comedy. The ending might make little sense (why did they pirates give up after being sprayed with paint? How did the dead alligator eat Captain Hook? HOW THE HELL IS THE FAT KID THROWING HIS OWN ANKLES ABOVE HIS HEAD????)  But none of that really matters. If you’re looking for an entertaining movie, throw this on and watch the 90’s goofiness unfold.