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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, January 7, 1992                   TAG: 9201080011
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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ANALYSIS OBSCURES NEVER NEVER LAND

I HAVE JUST returned from a wonderful adventure. My family and I went to see "Hook." I am compelled to write because I read your review saying Steven Spielberg had had the opportunity to create a "classic" with this movie, but missed it. The reviewer then picked at a myriad of minutiae.

Sadly, this poor soul could not grasp the meaning of Never Never Land. His imagination had apparently so dissipated when he grew up that, as he tried to carefully analyze each tree, he failed to appreciate the enchanted forest that surrounded him.

Surely, this delightful movie's purpose is to entertain and bring joy to the heart. Why does the critic feel he must hold it up against some arbitrary and mechanically rigid "artistic" standard? As a 43-year-old chronic adolescent, I so throughly enjoyed this movie that, right at the very end, just for a moment - I believed. DANA CHAMBERLAIN MARION

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