Londonderry News

This one goes out to all the college kids who are pounding their heads against the wall because it’s final exam time.  I didn’t have time to get to the movies this week although there are some fantastic ones out right now!  It’s Oscar season everybody!  But I’m currently struggling to get several lab reports done, so I thought this week I’d do a throwback movie.  Take a break from studying, or something else that’s stressful if you’re a grownup, and watch a childhood classic.

And is there a better movie out there to describe childhood fun and rebellion than Hook?  (Actually, I almost picked E.T. because I watched that recently but then I realized that it’s far too depressing to watch during finals week.)  For those  of you who’ve forgotten, “Hook” picks up where the classic story of “Peter Pan” left off; it asks, “What if Peter left Neverland to grow up?”.  Cue Robin Williams.  He is Peter Banning, inattentive father of Jack (around 11 years old) and Maggie (around 8), and husband of Moira. (He has forgotten he was ever Peter Pan, but he knows the stories of course.) Never without his cellphone and rarely not talking on it, we catch up with Peter and watch him break a promise to his son because he was so wrapped up in his work.  We follow the family as they travel to England to visit “Granny Wendy” (played by the brilliant Maggie Smith) for the first time in 10 years.

Granny Wendy tells Jack and Maggie about how she is the real Wendy from the story.  Then history repeats itself and the grownups go out to a dinner and the children are left with the nanny.  The grownups come home to find them kidnapped by Captain Hook, and Wendy tells Peter who he really is.  He is then visited by Tinkerbell (Julia Roberts, who has fun with the role), and she carries him to Neverland to rescue his children.

Peter awakes to find himself at the center of the Pirates village.  Here is where we meet Captain Hook, played magnificently by Dustin Hoffman,  who quickly discovers Peter, and then to his great dismay realizes that Peter remembers nothing about Neverland and can’t even fly.  Tinkerbell makes Hook a deal: She and the Lost Boys can whip Peter back into his old shape in 3 days so that Hook can have his war if he agrees not to kill the children until then.

Peter goes and meets the Lost Boys, (different kids from the classic bunch and much more culturally diverse) and we watch them all pitch in to get him back into shape and help him remember his old life.  Meanwhile Hook has devised a sinister plan to turn Peter’s children against him.  Don’t forget, Neverland makes its inhabitants forget the lives and families they left behind.

There’s  fighting, flying, daring sword fights, a game of pirate baseball, and fantastic performances from every character.  The story is touching and at times very funny; it has a mix of humor for kids and humor for adults.  The sets are fantastically detailed and the costumes are equally amazing. It’s well written, and directed with great imagination by Steven Spielberg.  I’ve read the actual book “Peter Pan” many times and I was ecstatic to notice how many book references there were in this movie.

You’ll walk away from this one with a happy feeling that’s a rare find  in movies these days.  Unfortunately that feeling will be short lived for those of us who have to go back to studying.

My Londonderry NH net rating, 4 seeds

Images Hook a Tristar Pictures (c) courtesy

Visit the Hook website for trailers and promotions.