Hook (1991)

Quick question before we start: why can’t Peter Pan fly for most of Hook’s 142 minutes? Steven Spielberg spends so long on a grumpy lawyer refusing to believe in magic that the magic shows up tired. Neverland looks like a very expensive theme park, all foam rocks and painted skies, and Julia Roberts’ Tinker Bell gets more glitter than lines. The good news is the pirates. Dustin Hoffman plays Captain Hook as a vain, wounded showman, and Bob Hoskins’s Smee is his perfect sidekick, a loyal little enabler. The best scene is Hook trying to win over Peter’s son with a pirate baseball game, because it’s the movie’s actual point: a dad who keeps missing the game. The imaginary food fight with the Lost Boys is a blast, too. Critics gave it 37% on Rotten Tomatoes, and audiences gave it an A minus CinemaScore. A 6.0 because it has a big heart and spends too long looking for it. $2,029 says you yell Bangarang at least once this week and have to explain yourself to someone who wasn’t there.

What works: Dustin Hoffman and Bob Hoskins are a great pirate double act, and the pirate baseball game and imaginary food fight are pure fun.

What doesn’t: At 142 minutes it takes forever to get Peter airborne, and Neverland looks like a soundstage rather than a real place.

Who it’s for: Grown-ups who loved it as kids, and parents who could use a gentle nudge to leave their phone in the other room.