Hook (film) - Reception

Reception

Spielberg, Williams and Hoffman did not take salaries for the film. Their deal called for the trio to split 40% of TriStar Pictures' gross revenues. They were to receive $20 million from the first $50 million in gross theatrical film rentals, with TriStar keeping the next $70 million in rentals before the three resumed receiving their percentage. Hook was released in North America on December 11, 1991, earning $13.52 million in its opening weekend. The film went on to gross $119.65 million in North America and $181.2 million in foreign countries, accumulating a worldwide total of $300.85 million. Hook was declared a financial success, and is the fifth-highest grossing "pirate-themed" film, behind all four films in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. In North America totals, Hook was the sixth-highest grossing film in 1991, and fourth-highest worldwide.

Film critics gave Hook generally negative reviews. As of December 2011, review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 29% of critics have given the film a positive review, based on 38 reviews, certifying it "Rotten", with an average rating of 4.4/10. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote that the "failure in Hook was its inability to re-imagine the material, to find something new, fresh or urgent to do with the Peter Pan myth. Lacking that, Spielberg should simply have remade the original story, straight, for the '90s generation." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone felt Hook would "only appeal to the baby boomer generation" and highly criticized the sword-fighting choreography. Vincent Canby of The New York Times felt the story structure was not well balanced, feeling Spielberg depended too much on art direction. Hal Hinson of The Washington Post was one of few who gave the film a positive review. Hinson elaborated on crucial themes of children, adulthood and loss of innocence. However, he observed that Spielberg "was stuck too much in a theme park world".

During an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Spielberg says: "There are parts of Hook I love. I'm really proud of my work right up through Peter being hauled off in the parachute out the window, heading for Neverland. I'm a little less proud of the Neverland sequences, because I'm uncomfortable with that highly stylized world that today, of course, I would probably have done with live-action character work inside a completely digital set. But we didn't have the technology to do it then, and my imagination only went as far as building physical sets and trying to paint trees blue and red."

Hook was nominated for five categories at the 64th Academy Awards. This included Art Direction (Norman Garwood, Garrett Lewis) (lost to Bugsy), Costume Design (lost to Bugsy), Visual Effects (lost to Terminator 2: Judgment Day), Makeup (lost to Terminator 2: Judgment Day) and Original Song ("When You're Alone", lost to Beauty and the Beast). Hook lost the Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film to Aladdin, in which Robin Williams co-starred, while cinematographer Dean Cundey was nominated for his work by the American Society of Cinematographers. Dustin Hoffman was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor (Musical or Comedy) (lost to Robin Williams for The Fisher King). John Williams was given a Grammy Award nomination; Julia Roberts received a Golden Raspberry Award nomination for Worst Supporting Actress (lost to Sean Young as the dead twin in A Kiss Before Dying).