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Touches You

That was an excellent one.

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Good concept, poorly executed.

We watched this with great expectation of a good to great show. How could it not be great? Christopher Walken as Hook. A live production! Christian Borle from SMASH. Kellie O'Hara. I was even interested in Allison Williams.But starting from the beginning it seemed as if it just didn't quite jell. "Peter Pan" didn't quite hit the mark when he shows up. Not bad. Just a bit too rushed or nervous sounding. The kids were fine, the mom and dad were fine.Then we get to Neverland, and "Hook" shows up. Or maybe, just walks on as if exerting energy in the part would be to go against the director's expressed wishes.I thought from the reviews that people were being unfair to Walken, but no, they were not unfair. Unfortunately, Walken pulled the whole show down. The pirates, for example, were campy and energetic and and clearly trying to have a good time. But Walken in the middle of them all? Scene after scene just sinks. It might be that he's tired, or that he doesn't care, or that he is just horribly miscast. Whatever the reason, he was completely wrong and spoiled the production. (Even the previews of the production show him as giving way less than 100% in rehearsal--which is disastrous for any production--a professional *must* be at 100% at *every* rehearsal and production.Other people were fine. I wasn't overly impressed with the choreography, but it was fine. The sets weren't distracting--it's a representation of a live show, and so the sets are larger than life like they would be for a Broadway show.I liked some of the new songs they inserted (one of them was from the 1954 production, if I understand correctly), and I thought the music was great--great production values.All in all, given anyone else as "Hook," this would have been a good-to-great production. Give a fantastic "Hook," it would have been fantastic.But with Walken, it was just a so-so production.Five stars. Good enough to maybe watch again with your kids or grandkids, but not something you'd watch again on your own.

I saw this with my mom tonight. She of course loves the old songs (original to the productions in her days) so she has a lot of nostalgia which carries her through it. I overall enjoyed it too though,surprisingly. Christopher Walken, as always is really fun to watch. And it was interesting to see a live stage production turned into a DVD / movie to watch at home. I think they did manage to capture some of the live magic.I wasn't a huge fan of the girl playing Peter Pan, but not sure if that's her fault or how she was directed. She didn't ruin it though, she just felt a little flat or something. The other actors did a better job of conveying emotions.

I have watched this twice now (missed part of the original broadcast), the second time with local kids. They absolutely were enchanted. I really believe the problem so many reviewers are having (we can see the wires, why is a girl playing Peter, blah blah) is the reaching for an adult sense of cynicism.With the exception of an oddly-stone-faced Captain Hook (why not make him have an over-reaching evil expression?) I think the actors were very good, with some acquiring excellence. The sets were what they should be - obvious fantasies -- and the music, while mostly familiar, coupled with simple, easily-filmed choreography, was fun, especially "I Won't Grow Up." Could it have been better? Not with the film restrictions of a live broadcast. I would say this revealed and displayed convincingly the "innocence on the reluctant edge of adulthood."

I was hoping NBC learned from "The Sound of Music - Live" and they did, just not very much.The lead role is rather well played, but Christopher Walken as Hook was a HUGE letdown. Walken plays the SAME PATTER as he does for every role. The problem is, the lines were written for someone with a rather lower class English accent which Walken did not (perhaps fortunately) even attempt, but the overall result was terrible.Walken can act, but he didn't even phone this one in, he sent it snailmail.Of course, being live has the problem of the flying harnesses, but because the camera zooms in on the characters (instead of the single POV you get during a stage presentation) the wires are not only visible, but annoying.Maybe NBC should stick to Saturday Night Live! and avoid Broadway.