I Think This Is Steven Spielberg’s Most Underrated Movie

Steven Spielberg is one of the most celebrated directors in cinematic history, and one of his most divisive movies also happens to be, in my estimation, his most underrated. Like many a cinema devotee, I hold Spielberg’s filmography in high regard, and I’m especially enamored with his adventure- and fantasy-oriented movies. From Jaws to E.T. – the Extra Terrestrial to Jurassic Park and the Indiana Jones franchise, Spielberg has nailed the art of the popcorn movie like few directors have. Despite this, 1991’s Hook isn’t generally ranked among those highlights of Spielberg’s career.

Hook stars the late Robin Williams as Peter Banning, a corporate lawyer whose children Jack (Charlie Korsmo) and Maggie (Amber Scott) are kidnapped and taken to Neverland by the ruthless Captain James Hook (Dustin Hoffman.) With the help of Tinkerbell (Julia Roberts), Peter discovers that he is the legendary Peter Pan he once believed to be the work of fiction, and travels to Neverland to rescue Jack and Maggie. Hook saw a rather divisive reception upon its release, and Spielberg himself has been famously dissatisfied with his work on it. However, in my opinion, Hook is one of the highlights of both Spielberg and Robin Williams’ respective careers, while its polarized reception and only relatively recently developed cult following is a classic case of bad form.

Hook Tells A One Of A Kind Peter Pan Story

In the pantheon of Peter Pan movies and stories, Hook stands alone as the first one to ask the biggest question – “What if Peter Pan grew up?” Hook opens with Williams’ Peter Banning as the complete opposite of Peter Pan’s life of eternal childhood and adventure: a workaholic corporate lawyer constantly missing out on family events and breaking promises to his children. Peter tries to make amends for his absenteeism with a family trip to London for Christmas, but even then, he remains glued to his cell phone (to say nothing of having to fight past his own fear of flying just to make the trip across the pond).

Peter Pan traveling back to Neverland to save his kids is a fish-out-of-water story few could have predicted, and it is exactly what makes Hook such a childhood classic for me. Compared to the outright bully Peter is to Captain Hook in Disney’s animated version of his story, it’s fun to see Peter actually have to train and put work into learning to fly and finding happy thoughts, as well as simply earning back the trust and respect of the Lost Boys. Peter finally learning to fly again and rallying the Lost Boys for the battle with Hook and his pirate army is a true moment of triumph worthy of an epic superhero movie, and one that does something virtually unheard of in comic book films. In essence, Hook gives Peter Pan both a resurrection and a second origin story with his return to Neverland as an adult. Cliche or not, there simply hasn’t been a Peter Pan adaptation to do anything like what Hook does with its hero.

Peter Pan’s Story In Hook Draws From Steven Spielberg’s Life & Career

It isn’t uncommon for directors to draw from personal experience in their approach to storytelling, and common themes in Spielberg’s filmography are childhood feelings of abandonment and parenting struggles. That formed the basis for his 1982 movie E.T. – the Extra Terrestrial, drawing from Spielberg’s family life after his parent’s divorce. With Hook, Spielberg places himself in the protagonist’s shoes in a different way. With several of the biggest box office hits in history to his name by the early ’90s, Spielberg’s professional life wasn’t that far off from Peter Banning’s as a man who has risen to the pinnacle of success of his field, but at the expense of being able to be fully present for his family.

With Hook, Spielberg presents childhood as not simply a phase of life, but a state of mind that keeps people balanced and having a sense of wonder and possibility for what life may hold. Peter’s work life hasn’t only made him an absentee father, but also a stiff and awkward man with great difficulty relating to anyone. By the end of Hook, Peter’s newfound outlook on life that “To live would be a great adventure” reflects Spielberg’s own thesis on how professional success can come to the detriment of our ability to fully live our lives, and the need to keep the child within us a central part of how we see the world. As a kid seeing Hook for the first time, I mostly saw the Banning family dynamic through Jack and Maggie’s eyes, but growing into adulthood made me fully appreciate Spielberg’s message about keeping the kid within you around as you get older.

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Robin Williams Gives One Of His Greatest Performances As Peter Pan

True story – I had the privilege of seeing Robin Williams perform live on stage about a year and a half before his tragic death. I can personally attest that Williams’ infectious energy as a comedian is like nothing I’ve ever experienced, and I’m eternally grateful I got to experience it firsthand. Hook was also the first Robin Williams movie I ever saw as a child, and in my opinion, in terms of capturing the full Robin Williams package, he gives the purest and most dynamic performance of his career in Hook. A a Juilliard graduate, Williams was a talented and engaging dramatic actor (a gift he brought to many performances), which is an integral element of his performance in Hook.

As an uptight stiff constantly on the phone with a corporate associate who happens to share my first name, Williams’ Peter Banning experiences a real shock to his life in realizing just how close he is to losing his family to his career. That fear becomes far more urgent when Jack and Maggie are kidnapped by Captain Hook, forcing Peter to become a kid, a warrior, and a leader of the Lost Boys again in the span of three days. Williams handles the drama of a father trying to save his kids with real power in Hook, and his fatherly mourning of Rufio (future Avatar: The Last Airbender star Dante Basco) as he dies in his arms is among the most emotional scenes of the actor’s career.

On the flip side, Williams was also, in my estimation, the funniest comedian to ever walk the Earth, and he brings a pirate’s booty of comedy spoils to Hook. From Peter’s clumsy entry into Neverland to his gradual reawakening of the child within him, Williams is as hysterical as he’s ever been in Hook. Peter’s dinner scene with the Lost Boys was the best introduction a kid like me could ever have asked for seeing Williams’ innate skill at improv comedy, and his verbal sparring match with Rufio, punctuated beautifully with the declaration of “Don’t mess with me, man, I’m a lawyer!” showed every child in the world exactly how it’s done with splendid comedic timing.

While Hook has developed into a cult classic in the decades since Peter flew back to Neverland, it still isn’t without its detractors, with Spielberg himself arguably the biggest among them. Still, its combination of adventure, fantasy, human drama, and hilarious comedy have aged marvelously, and if putting Hook on as one’s first comfort movie during the beginning of a pandemic (as I did in March 2020) isn’t testimony to its power, I don’t know what is. Without any reservation, Hook gets my vote as Steven Spielberg’s most underrated but still completely bangarang adventure.