Hook (1991)
Directed by Steven Spielberg
The boy who wasn't supposed to grow up—Peter Pan—does just that, becoming a soulless corporate lawyer whose workaholism could cost him his wife and kids. During his trip to see Granny Wendy in London, the vengeful Capt. Hook kidnaps Peter's kids and forces Peter to return to Neverland.
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What critics compared Hook to
This story, inspired by Carroll and credited to screenwriter Linda Woolverton, recalls Steven Spielberg’s contemplation of a grown-up Peter Pan in “Hook,” which seemed at least partially the director’s effort to reconcile his own youthful enthusiasms with grown-up responsibilities.
Oh, it was inspired by that book (and its sequel, "Through the Looking-Glass"), using the same characters and many similar motifs, but like Spielberg's "Hook" in relation with J.M. Barrie "Peter Pan", "Alice in Wonderland" is actually a variation on the source material more than a straight retelling of the original story.Also not unlike "Hook" is the way our protagonist, Alice ("Alice?"), is now older, has all but forgotten her famous adventures and has seemingly lost her "muchness".
It actually has quite a bit in commonwith Steven Spielberg's 1991 flop Hook.
Playing like a sequel to the infamous story of the little girl falling down the rabbit hole, this film has more in common with Steven Spielberg’s lousy Peter Pan sequel Hook than with Burton’s best films.
This “Alice” adventure is conceived as more of a sequel, treading where “Return to Oz” and “Hook” already splashed up a storm.
The basic set-up seems promising enough too, with the teenage Alice, on the cusp of womanhood, tumbling back into the weird underworld she visited as a young child but has since forgotten (shades of Hook).
No, I haven’t forgotten about “The Adventures of Tintin” or “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” or “Hook” or “1941.”
It’s an often-stunning film that makes good use of 3D technology, with gorgeous scenes in Dream Country and moments that bring to mind Spielberg’s very similar “Hook.”
I can't understand why; it seems to me that it's one of his gentlest and most beautiful films, less frenetic than Hook , less grueling than E.T. the Extra-terrestrial and less wispy than War Horse .
(This is also why all those scenes with the Lost Boys fall flat in Hook.)
Off the back of Bridge Of Spies and Lincoln (and even War Horse), The BFG seems like an odd fit for Spielberg until you remember that he directed not only E.T., but also the hugely under-rated Hook and Tintin.
Dahl’s widely read and nearly universally revered novel began its journey to becoming a Spielberg movie some 25 years ago, at roughly the same time the director released one of his few duds, the cacophony that was 1991’s garish Peter Pan rehash, “Hook.”
It's more Hook than Close Encounters , but there's little doubt what Bird was aiming for; as homages go, this one's not as successful as J.J. Abrams' Super 8 .
The idea that Big Fish is some kind of turning point towards maturity for Tim Burton (a mid-life crisis like backhanded observation that also befell Steven Spielberg with Hook) is for thumbnosed critics unable to grasp that Burton has been making adult fairy-tales all the way back to Pee-Wee�s Big Adventure.
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His overdramatic and redundant themes sound like a parody of his earlier work, ripping off Schindler's List (the main theme is only a few notes different), Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and above all, Hook.
Fry and Hauser do a good job as the henchmen who can’t quit Cruella—especially the latter, who said in an interview that he was trying to emulate Bob Hoskins in Hook with his performance.
But when they start doing skateboard stunts, play basketball and have a massive food fight with what looks like Play-Doh and when Peter attempts to win them over by challenging their leader to a vulgar insult match the film looks a bit too much like another Spielberg enterprise, "The Goonies."
A total buzzkill, like something out of Spielberg’s Hook.
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If you've seen director's George Miller's first three Mad Max movies—the eponymous original, the sequel, Road Warrior , among the greatest action movies of all time, and Beyond Thunderdome , the twisted version of Hook you didn't know you needed—then you'll catch the few scant callbacks woven into Fury Road .
The clichéd shot of children staring skyward in wonder should have died with 1991's Hook .