Event Calendar

‘Hook’ with Robin Williams


Hook is a 1991 film directed by Steven Spielberg. The film stars Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman, Julia Roberts, Bob Hoskins, and features Maggie Smith, Caroline Goodall, Charlie Korsmo,Amber Scott, and Dante Basco. Hook acts as a sequel to Peter Pan‘s original adventures, focusing on a grown-up Peter who has forgotten his childhood. Now known as “Peter Banning”, he is a successful corporate lawyer with a wife and two children. Captain Hook kidnaps his two children, and he must return to Neverland and reclaim his youthful spirit as Peter Pan in order to challenge his old enemy.


Plot

Peter Banning (Robin Williams) is a well-meaning, successful corporate lawyer whose relationship with his family, especially his two young children Jack (Charlie Korsmo) and Maggie (Amber Scott), is strained by continuous absences and broken promises. His wife Moira (Caroline Goodall) struggles to keep them together and grows frustrated at Peter for his callous behavior. The family flies to London to visit Moira’s grandmother, Wendy Darling (Maggie Smith), who helped Peter find a family when he was a young orphan.

Upon arrival, they meet an old man who has “lost his marbles”, Tootles (Arthur Malet), Wendy’s first orphan. Peter, Moira, and Wendy attend a ceremony for the expansion of Wendy’s orphanage. While they are out, the children are abducted and a note is left for Peter by a James Hook. Wendy attempts to explain to Peter that he is in fact Peter Pan and that his old enemy, Captain Hook (Dustin Hoffman), has returned and taken his children for revenge, but he denies it and attempts to drink the idea away in his bed.

Tinker Bell (Julia Roberts) appears before Peter that night and knocks him unconscious and flies him to a pirate port in Neverland. There he awakens in disbelief, and is discovered by Hook and his second in command Smee (Bob Hoskins), who threaten the children unless he accepts Hook’s challenge to a duel. However, Peter’s failure to reach expectations disheartens Hook, who commands the crew to kill them all. Tinker Bell intervenes and is granted three days in which to prepare Peter for a proper duel. Peter is accidentally knocked overboard and eventually finds his way to the Lost Boys’ hideout, now led by Peter’s successor, Rufio (Dante Basco). The Lost Boys at first dismiss him as an old man who has no hope of regaining his former glory, but through their rigorous training and his own sparks of inspiration he begins to relearn the magic of Neverland.

Meanwhile, Hook gets an idea by Smee to turn Peter’s children to love him, instead of Peter so Hook makes a ploy for Maggie and Jack called “Why parents hate their children”. Maggie does not fall for the ploy, but Jack does when Hook uses Jack’s frustration over his father’s continuous broken promises to steal his affection. Peter is heartbroken when he sees Hook treating Jack like a son, and becomes determined to win his family back. Stumbling upon his childhood home in a tree (destroyed by Hook), his memory begins to return to him and he finally remembers his past, learning how to fly by recalling his “happy thought”: being a father. Peter regains the leadership of the Lost Boys and they challenge Hook and his pirates in an all-out battle. Peter tries to take Jack back from Hook, but Jack refuses as he now has come to look towards Hook as if he was his father and Hook challenges Peter to a fight. However Peter soon regains Jack’s love when Jack realizes what Hook is really like, after Hook kills Rufio in the fight. Peter then saves Maggie from Hook’s pirates. Peter and Hook engage in a climactic sword fight, and Hook is apparently killed when the Crocodile, which Hook has built into a massive clock tower, falls on him. Jack and Maggie return home as Peter designates the largest member of the Lost Boys, Thud Butt (Raushan Hammond), the only other lost boy besides Rufio whom Peter grew a connection to, as the new leader of the Lost Boys, and tells them to take care of everybody smaller than them, adding “Thank you for believing,” as he leaves Neverland.

Returning home, Peter finally realizes the love he has for his family and the importance of having a youthful heart. Tootles, a former Lost Boy, is dismayed at missing the adventure, but discovers pixie dust in his bag of lost marbles and uses it to go flying around London in excitement and back to Neverland. Wendy remarks to Peter that his adventures are now over, but Peter says, “To live would be an awfully big adventure.”

Cast

  • Robin Williams as Peter Banning / Peter Pan: He has forgotten his childhood in Neverland, and becomes a successful corporate lawyer with a wife and two kids. Captain Hook kidnaps his two children, thus Peter Banning must reclaim his youthful spirit as Peter Pan in order to challenge Hook.
  • Ryan Francis as young Peter Pan in Flashbacks
  • Dustin Hoffman as Captain Hook: A villainous pirate who has had a long enemy-relationship with Peter Pan. Hook’s motives over the years after escaping from his death include revenge against Peter, by kidnapping his two children.
  • Julia Roberts as Tinker Bell: A fairy who helps Peter gain memory of his childhood and “happy thoughts”. She is in love with Peter, but understands why he must continue his relationship with his family.
  • Charlie Korsmo as Jack Banning: Peter’s son who begins to rebel against his father by looking towards Captain Hook as a father figure when Hook uses Jack’s frustration of his father’s broken promises to turn him against Peter.
  • Amber Scott as Maggie Banning: Peter’s daughter and Jack’s younger sister who, after the kidnapping, does not fall under Hook’s ploy of “why parents hate their children”.
  • Bob Hoskins as Smee: Hook’s henchman who creates the plan of trying to convince Peter’s children to “love” Hook. Hoskins also portrays a garbage sweeper in Kensington Gardens.
  • Caroline Goodall as Moira Banning: Wendy’s granddaughter, Peter’s loving wife, mother to Jack and Maggie and sister to the unseen Margaret.
  • Maggie Smith as Wendy Darling: After her adventures with Peter Pan, she becomes well-known for helping orphans.
  • Gwyneth Paltrow appears as young Wendy Darling in flashbacks.
  • Dante Basco as Rufio: Leader of the Lost Boys since Peter’s departure from Neverland. Rufio is initially resentful of him but soon wishes he had a father like Peter. He is killed by Captain Hook during a duel.
  • Arthur Malet as Tootles: A senile old man living with Wendy. A former Lost Boy, Tootles is also Wendy’s “first orphan”. Peter helps giving him the ability to fly by finding his lost marbles, which he left in Neverland.

 

This entry was posted on Monday, July 25th, 2011, 2:42 pm and is filed under Movie Nights, Upcoming Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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