I was actually worried when I saw the casting for Hook, but I watched it anyway. It is enjoyable, but I've seen better. Robin Williams is very likable and surprisingly good, but I personally wouldn't have picked him for Peter. Kevin Kline would have been a better choice. Julia Roberts is okay as Tinkerbell, but she has been better. Stealing the show, in a wonderfully pantomime performance as Captain Hook, is an unrecognisable Dustin Hoffmann, believe it or not. His performance was that good, that I was appalled that it wasn't nominated. He's not the first actor to be seriously robbed of an award.Morgan Freeman in Shawshank Redemption? Tim Curry in Legend and It? John Hurt in The Elephant Man? Bob Hoskins was amiable, and the music by John Williams was very good, but not his best score. The plot is simple but well-told, if marred by overlong and unnecessary sequences with the Lost Boys that were sadly poorly handled. The film's main merit, aside from Hoffmann's performance is the art direction, beautiful sets and lovely costumes, particularly the brief underwater scene with the mermaids. The part with Maggie singing on the boat deck was heart-rending, and the scene where Peter suddenly remembers everything was touching. Above all, every scene with Hook and Smee was extremely entertaining. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it very much, but the film lacked magic. All in all, a slightly disappointing but fun and under-appreciated film, that is a 7/10 from me. Bethany Cox

HOOK is undoubtedly one of Steven Spielberg's worst ever films and a movie that encapsulates everything bad about the director. This overblown rubbish has little to do with the source material, which is almost unrecognisable amid an overlong, overwritten story about father/son relationships (as per usual for Spielberg). An overaged Robin Williams mugs for all his worth and comes across as intensely irritating, and of course is completely miscast as Pan - the boy who could supposedly never grow old. Elsewhere, you get a pantomime turn from Dustin Hoffmann (nowhere near as effective as Alan Rickman in ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES),Bob Hoskins as the sole saving grace Smee, a typically unlikeable Julia Roberts, huge dollops of sentimentality, cheesy, dated special effects, and uninteresting action. A real mess of a film, in other words.

Hook is another childhood favorite that still holds up well today. It runs a little long and there are some missteps (e.g. Julia Roberts as Tinkerbell),but it really does appeal to the child in me. And watching it as an adult has given me a whole new perspective on Peter Banning - including his shortcomings, fears and joys as a father. Plus, who doesn't love the imaginary banquet scene? This is a fun movie.