For audiences of a certain generation, Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster fantasy Hook holds a very special place in their hearts, one from which it will never be dislodged. And yet, the 1991 favorite isn’t quite as universally-beloved as you might think.
In fact, the retelling of the Peter Pan legend was savaged by critics upon its initial release, to the extent that it still only holds a shockingly unremarkable 29 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes. On the other side of the coin, upwards of 250,000 users have significantly upped the audience rating to 76 percent, but there’s still widespread disbelief in some quarters that Hook is hated.
Clearly, those detractors aren’t among the number of Rakuten subscribers to have propelled the whimsical adventure to a place on the platform’s global most-watched list, per FlixPatrol. The prospect of Robin Williams as a middle-aged Peter was questioned at the time, but a $300 million take at the box office and everlasting life as an unsung classic more than answered any lingering questions.
That still doesn’t change the fact that reviews were less than stellar, while no less an authority than Spielberg himself was happy to voice his dissatisfaction with the end product, with the filmmaker repeatedly stating that he never felt as though he’d brought the best of himself to the project. Regardless of what you think, there’s undoubtedly a case to be made for John Williams’ phenomenal score being one of the most overlooked of an iconic career, even if any sort of Hook slander is tantamount to sacrilege for many.