The best adaptation and the best Captain Hook

I think this is the definitive adaptation of Peter Pan - it follows the book very closely in most respects, only adding embellishments which improve the already existing things. That's the way adaptations should be done I think. You can't do everything just like a book on film, but you can keep the spirit and film can enhance certain elements.

Now Jason Isaacs is undoubtedly the best Captain Hook. I'm fond of Hans Conried in the Disney film too as that is also an accurate portrayal, just more exaggerated due to it being an animation. Isaacs however plays Hook as a real living man, so has more opportunity to give the character depth. Both have the look right - Restoration rake during the reign of Charles II and the requisite attractiveness and charm. Hoffman in Hook is too much of a caricature (if an enjoyable one) but should be considered separately I think.

And as for comparison with more recent live action portrayals, there's no comparison. The one in Pan looks bland. I haven't watched Once Upon a Time, but Colin O'Donoghue looks like he might be ok (I wish he would have long hair rather than short, but I suppose not everyone finds that sexy). But to me it's not really Captain Hook - it's more of an au version. Plus, I think it's quite funny that his Hook has been touted as a 'sexy revamp' of the character, as if that's something new. Hook's always meant to have been alluring - I even find the Disney animation quite debonair. But he was never more so with Isaacs playing him. It's just that pantomimes; musicals and Hook were caricatures, and the 2003 film did not do as well as it should initially. Isaacs however gets everything perfect - a balance of refined politeness that masks brutality; indifference and callousness beneath which lies melancholy; handsomeness; forget-me-not blue eyes and long black hair in varying states of curly wildness just as the character should be. There's no need for anyone else in this role as far as I can see, nor another live action.

I used to watch my DVD copy of this over and over when I was younger. I just saw it again recently on TV and reconnected with my love for it. It's a really well done film I think. And Captain Hook's scenes in this were always a big draw for me as I found him more intriguing than Peter Pan who, accurately portrayed in this film, is really annoying if tragic.