Scott Chambers’ gruesome horror adaptation of J.M. Barrie’sPeter Pan, the newly-released slasher moviePeter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare, is causing quite a stir in cinemas. Chambers takes the boy who never grew up and turns him into a monstrous mime artist who abducts and murders children. This gruesome subversion of Barrie’s classic children’s tale fits neatly into Rhys Frake-Waterfield’sTwisted Childhood Universe, of whichNeverland Nightmareis just the latest installment. It won’t be to everyone’s tastes, though. Others might prefer Steven Spielberg’sHook, an update of the Peter Pan story from 1991, which is equally inventive but much more in the spirit of Barrie’s original play and novel.
Hooksees the story of Peter Pan adapted for the modern world, involving fully-grown protagonist Peter Banning, played by Robin Williams, who’s forgotten his childhood adventures. The movie wasn’t well-received by critics when it was released three decades ago, and evenSpielberg has since admitted to disliking parts ofHook. Yet it’s aged into a TV staple that gives holiday revelers the kind of light-hearted escapism they need, with its star-studded cast adding a dusting of Hollywood magic to this classic tale.
Hook Remains The Best Live-Action Adaptation Of The Peter Pan Story
The Movie Captures The Spirit Of The Original Source Material
Robin Williams is at his most winsome inHook, as a man who’s forgotten he should, in fact, have been the boy who never grew up. He looks positively giddy upon his return to Neverland, egged on by Julia Roberts’ constantly grinning Tinker Bell. The excitement and wonder this journey engenders reflects Spielberg’s childhood connection to Peter Pan, and his desire to go back in time and experience Neverland as a child.
Hook Star Shares Emotional Memory of Working With Robin Williams
Hook star Dante Basco recalls an emotional memory he had with the late Robin Williams while filming Steven Spielberg’s swashbuckling adventure film.
Meanwhile, Dustin Hoffman relishes his chance toportray Captain Hook, the titular character andPeter Pan’s arch-nemesis. The actor has never looked less like himself, and seems to be savoring the opportunity to don a mustache almost as curly as his wig, while doing his best impression of Laurence Olivier as Richard III.
Hook: 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Spielberg’s Cult Classic
With a long list of celebrity cameos to a history of musical numbers, these tidbits about Steven Spielberg’s 1991 classic Hook are surprising.
Hookis purposefully camp and garish, but all the better for it. It’s impossible not to get swept up in the fervor of Neverland’s pirates or Peter’s Lost Boys, or to laugh at one of the jokes hammed up by Williams orBob Hoskins, who plays Hook’s first mate, Mr Smee. No other live-action adaptation ofPeter Panhas come close to the pantomime that Barrie’s story is supposed to be, before or since.
How Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare’s Rotten Tomatoes Score Compares To Hook’s
Critics Actually Favor The New Slasher Movie Over Hook
Nevertheless,Hookis somehow one of the lowest-rated versions of the Peter Pan storyon Rotten Tomatoes. Only 29% of critics have given it a positive review overall, compared to the 50% score thatPeter Pan’s Neverland Nightmarehas achieved so far.Hookranks second-to-last among all the live-actionPeter Panmovies, with only Joe Wright’s disappointing 2015 versionPanbelow it on the site with a 26% score.
98%
29%
77%
26%
65%
Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare(2025)
50%
The relativesuccess ofPeter Pan’s Neverland Nightmareranks it directly aboveHookin the list. However, Disney’s 2023 live-action adaptation of their own animatedPeter Pan, entitledPeter Pan & Wendyis above them both, with 65% of critics giving it a positive review. The only two live-action versions of the story rated highly on Rotten Tomatoes are P. J. Hogan’s 2003 moviePeter Pan, which stars Jason Isaacs as Hook, and the first-ever adaptation of the story, a1924 silent film that holds a 98% positive score.
How Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare Proves How Underrated Hook Is
Hook Is More Worthy Of Any Praise Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare Is Getting
These critics’ ratings doHookmore of a disservice than any of the other films. In fact, watchingPeter Pan’s Neverland Nightmareis a reminder of all the elements that Spielberg’s family adventure movie brings to the table.Hookis funny, sweet, playful and wholesome, everything that Barrie intended his story to be. It takes viewers into the fantasy world of its protagonist, which – yes – involves a lot of dressing up and hokey accents, but that’s the whole point. Barrie originally wrote Peter Pan as a play that would allow children to enter a world of make-believe physically.
Captain Hook’s hook makes the perfect slasher movie weapon.
Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmarehas shockedeven its own cast with the way it deliberately turns this idea on its head, allowing its audience to indulge in the worst possible version of Neverland. But this conceit often comes across as crass and gratuitous in the movie, asthe source material that frames the plot appears superfluous to most of the violenceenacted by its impossibly evil version of Peter Pan.
The Twisted Childhood Universe Made A Horror Peter Pan, But A Popular 2010s TV Show Already Did That
The Twisted Childhood Universe recently made Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare, but a popular 2010s TV show already has a horror version of this story.
It feels like there’s only one reason that Barrie’s story was chosen as the basis for the thirdTwisted Childhood Universeadaptation: Captain Hook’s hook, which makes the perfect slasher movie weapon. On the other hand, there are countless reasons why Steven Spielberg chose to makeHook, and his passion for the project is clearly there onscreen throughout the movie.
