AN EVENING HANGING OUT WITH PETER IN NEVERLAND - MOVIE REVIEWS OF DISNEY'S "PETER PAN" AND SPIELBERG'S "HOOK"

 You may have remembered that last year I spend a few hours, watching both Disney's '51 animated and '10 live action films titled "Alice In Wonderland." Well, this year I decided to watch Disney's "Peter Pan" ('53) and "Hook" ('91).

There is a noticeable difference between my Alice binge last year and the Peter Pan double feature: As I mentioned, both Alices were Disney pictures. "Hook" isn't a Disney movie. In fact, one thing that I noticed was there was an allusion to Tinkerbell drinking poison to save Peter's life, as in the original story and plays, as opposed to her rescuing Peter from a bomb in the Disney version.

When I was young, I loved Peter Pan. It was onc of the Disney albums telling the story with a short illustrated version that I had - probably my second favorite (Jungle Book taking first place). However, it wasn't until seeing this movie again that I realized  that Peter was a womanizing flirt, mad when jealous Tinkerbell tried to have Wendy killed, laughing when jealous bikini-clad mermaids tried to drown Wendy, and having Tiger Lilly dance for him.

While I didn't catch this when I was 10, I did pick up on the racial slurs towards Indians (would characters in an English story that takes place in a fantasy world accurately be called Native Americans?). Even as a kid, I cringed wht the "What Made The Red Man Red." This was the first exposure I had to racial prejudice.

I am surprised at my typing this review, but "Hook" is more of a family film than the Disney classic. I will say it had a slower start before the film picked up. But Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman, Julia Roberts, and Bob Hoskins (playing Peter, Captain Hook, Tinkerbell, and Mr. Smee respectively) did a great job in making this entertaining. 

Before I forget, I'll mention that my first introduction to Peter Pan was on the Disneyland dark ride (as was the case with Alice in Wonderland). This was the original version, where Peter was no where on the ride except for his shadow (the idea is for the rider to view themselves as Peter; same was true with the Alice, Mr. Toad, and Snow White rides).