Argh, welcome back aboard the SS Fluttershy, you bilge rats. Today, we return to the world of animation as we take a look at the the men that have voiced Captain Hook over the years. Let's begin.
Hans Conried
Hook's original voice actor was Hans Conried, and as some of you may know, he also voiced Mr. Darling. A tradition that was carried over from the stage adaption and has been done in most iterations of the tale having Hook's actor also play Mr. Darling. The only time, I know of this not being done is on Once Upon A Time but we talked about that Hook yesterday.
And Conried really set what was to be expected of Hook by playing him as a fool that has been upped by Pan and easily angered by Smee's aloofness but at the same time can also threatening, when the film calls for it but Hook is a comedic villain but one that is not to be taken lightly either.
Conried was the original Hook and in my opinion, he did a fantastic job bringing the character to life. Now let's move onto Hook's next voice actor
Corey Burton
Corey Burton has been voicing Hook since 1983 and you can hear his Hook in House of Mouse, Return To Neverland, Kingdom Hearts, Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion, and Jake and The Never Land Pirates to name a few.
I'm sure there are other appearances that I'm leaving out but these are some of the most prominent ones and the interesting thing with Burton's Hook is that it's mostly an imitation of Hans Conried, if you listen to Burton and Conried's Hooks without knowing, which voice your listening to, you may not be able to tell the difference. And this isn't too surprising as I read that not only is Burton, a fan of Hans Conried's voice work but he also believes in consistency with his characters and feels that Hook should sound like he did in the original film. Now, he admitted that for Jake and The Never Land Pirates, he had to find a new way to voice Hook as it is a preschool show and he decided to play up the comedy and tone down the villainy. This quote from Jim Hill Media sum up how Burton approached playing Hook in the newest incarnation.
"To be honest, I just imagined what Hans would have done if he'd been asked to portray Captain Hook on the old Jack Benny or Burns & Allen show. Conried - being the pro that he was - would have modulated his performance so that Hook would have then worked within the confines of that particular program," Corey said. "Hook's always been a comic villain. So - for 'Jake and the Never Land Pirates' - I just played up the comedy and dialed down the villainy."
Which for a preschool show makes sense but it does make me miss what Corey Burton could do with Hook because even as bad as Return To Neverland is, at least, we got to have the threatening Hook and I get why, he toned down the villainy but I really miss that aspect of Burton's Hook. F.Y.I, he's also the current voice of Timothy Q. Mouse. That's pretty cool. Now, let's move onto the latest actor to portray Hook
Tom Hiddleston
If you read my review of The Pirate Fairy, you know that Tom Hiddleston was saddled with the task of playing a younger version of the infamous pirate before he lost his hand as the Tinker Bell movies take place before the events of Peter Pan and he did a fine job in making Hook, or rather James seem likable and his own character. It's not the best take on the character but it is certainly a completely different take that reminds me less or Hook and more of Hans from Frozen but that is more in how, he gained the titular Pirate Fairy's trust and then betrayed her at the end. And throughout the entire film up until the big reveal, he is presented as a likable young cabin boy but I was just waiting for the heel turn knowing that he was playing a young Captain Hook and when it came, Hiddleston did a decent job of playing the ruthless side and you even get a sense of his angry side in the post credits scene, where Mr. Smee saves the young captain and this is the first time, they meet. Again, Tom Hiddleston wasn't bad in the role but if I want a Hiddleston villain, I think I'll go with Loki instead.
And at first, I was a little bummed that Corey Burton wasn't voicing Hook in this movie but then I realized that he's probably too old for this version of Hook as this film according the the film makers (even though it contradicts the first Tinker Bell movie according to my research) is set exactly twenty years before Peter Pan. Yeah, I'd say that Hiddleston has my least favorite take on the character. I mean, he's great in Tinker Bell and The Pirate Fairy but when compared to Hans Conried or Corey Burton, he's just lacking something and I can't explain it.
There you have it, my look at the three actors that have voiced Captain Hook. I hope that you've enjoyed this article and join me tomorrow as I finally deliver on the Peter Pan Covers Music Fridays, I promised you last week.
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