By Joshua Tyler
| Published 10 seconds ago

The 1990s belonged to Steven Spielberg. Having established himself as the most bankable director in Hollywood with movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark and E.T. in the 1980s, the now-iconic filmmaker entered the decade with the cachet needed to do just about anything he wanted.

What he wanted more than anything else was a lavish production adapting Peter Pan, the most iconic children’s story ever written. So he went to work creating, building, and crafting. By 1991, his passion project was complete and set for release as the year’s biggest Christmas entry. Then it all went horribly wrong.

Spielberg, used to endless success, found himself targeted and mocked. As the sharks circled, his movie became an endless punching bag for people who thought he needed to be knocked down a peg. Worst of all, none of that negativity was deserved.

This is why Hook failed.

Steven Spielberg’s Team Up With Michael Jackson

Steven Spielberg had been obsessed with Peter Pan since before he was the guy who made blockbusters. As a kid, he staged his own backyard version of the story. As an adult, he kept trying to turn that fascination into a movie, and kept failing to find the angle. 

At first, that led him to Michael Jackson. Like Spielberg, Jackson was obsessed with Peter Pan. Michael saw himself as the boy who never grew up, and it’s why he named his sprawling compound Neverland Ranch. So, with Spielberg actively working on a way into the world of Peter Pan, Michael Jackson approached him with a pitch, and Steven Spielberg was into it. 

Solving The Peter Pan Problem

The project reportedly moved far enough along that there were serious creative discussions about songs, tone, and scale. But it kept stalling for the same reason every other Peter Pan version stalled for him: it didn’t solve the biggest story problem inherent in any Peter Pan project. That story problem is this: Peter Pan never changes. 

Main characters need an arc; they need to grow and develop as people. Yet, the entire point of Peter Pan is that he doesn’t grow; he doesn’t change. It’s why Wendy is the main character of J.M. Barrie’s book, and not Peter Pan.

But Spielberg wanted to make a movie about Peter Pan. To do that, he had to find a way to give Peter Pan room for growth. His solution was a script called Hook.

His Michael Jackson version was abandoned, with some of its best elements working their way into what Hook became. The bright theatrical sets, the heightened performances, even the occasional musical energy, they’re leftovers from that version of the movie that never got made. Instead of trying to preserve the Peter Pan myth as Jackson wanted, Steven Spielberg built a story about what happens when that myth breaks down.

Robin Williams Is The Manic Child Inside Us All

Spielberg landed on Robin Williams as his Peter because he needed duality. Williams could play both the burned-out adult and the manic child underneath, all in one movie. The movie wouldn’t work without that, and there’s never been another actor who could pull that off the way Williams could.

Next, he brought on Dustin Hoffman as Captain Hook, disappearing so completely into the role that early crew members reportedly didn’t recognize him in costume.

The Cost Of Building Everything

To preserve the magic and wonder of the Peter Pan myth, everything about the movie was built the old-fashioned way: massive practical sets, constructed almost entirely on soundstages at Sony Pictures Studios. Neverland was built piece by piece, out of wood, paint, and sheer scale, with sprawling pirate ships and the Lost Boys’ hideout physically constructed.

The result is one of the most beautiful movies ever filmed, but it took forever and cost a fortune. The production became notoriously long and expensive, pushing past $70 million, a huge, huge number for the time. 

Behind the scenes, it wasn’t exactly smooth sailing either. Julia Roberts, cast as Tinker Bell, earned tabloid attention for reported on-set tensions and was infamously labeled “Tinkerhell” in the press, while Spielberg himself later admitted he felt creatively adrift during filming, unsure if he was making a kids movie, a dark adult allegory, or something awkwardly in between. 

Stress And Tension Makes Magic Happen

Stress and tension, combined with something deeply personal and meticulously crafted, sometimes makes magic. That’s exactly what happened with Hook. 

Peter Pan grew up. That’s the story. That’s Spielberg’s solution to his unsolvable problem.

The movie begins with the story of Peter Banning, a man who is everything Peter Pan was never supposed to become: a corporate lawyer, glued to his phone, too busy to notice his own kids slipping away. Then his kids actually do slip away, literally. They’re snatched out of their beds and dragged to Neverland by Captain Hook, who’s tired of waiting for his old enemy to grow up and finally does it for him. 

Peter Banning follows, but the problem is he’s forgotten he was ever Peter Pan. He can’t fly, can’t fight, and barely remembers who he used to be, which makes him useless in a place built on belief. 

The Lost Boys don’t buy him; their current leader, Rufio, flat-out rejects him, and Hook toys with him like a washed-up relic. What should have been a rescue mission turns into a midlife crisis with swords, as a man grapples with what really matters to him in the world.  

To save his kids, Peter has to relearn imagination, rediscover joy, and essentially undo adulthood long enough to become the thing he abandoned. That’s exactly the kind of character development Spielberg spent decades looking for.

Renewed, revitalized, and with the welfare of his kids as his focus instead of empty corporate networking, the movie’s grand finale is Peter Pan versus Hook, round two, and this time it’s for everything. It’s a perfect story for every adult facing down the stress of middle age, while also a family story filled with all the magic and wonder kids need to fire up their own imaginations. 

The Attack On Hook

Though it’s now often regarded as a masterpiece and regularly defended as one of the 90s’ best fantasy movies, that’s not what happened to Hook when it was released. The budget, the production problems, it all loomed large over everything. Because of that, pundits treated it like a flop, a failure, when in reality it wasn’t at all. 

Everyone expected a juggernaut. This was Steven Spielberg at the peak of his powers. The powers that be demanded another E.T. Instead, released in December 1991, Hook opened solidly but not spectacularly, pulling in about $13 million its first weekend. 

It faced immediate competition from Beauty and the Beast, which was surging on word of mouth and becoming a cultural event, siphoning off the family audience Hook was counting on.

Smelling blood in the water, everyone pounced. Reviews at the time painted it as overstuffed, sluggish, and strangely joyless for a movie about rediscovering childhood. Many pointed out that Steven Spielberg, usually so precise, seemed lost in his own production, delivering something visually extravagant but emotionally unfocused.

Critics refused to accept Robin Williams as a serious actor, making cracks about Mork from Ork and dismissing him as not worthy of standing against Dustin Hoffman. All of it was ridiculous, especially given that Williams had already proven himself as an actor with Dead Poets Society.

Hook’s Slow Burn Box Office

Domestically, Hook went on to earn around $119 million, with a worldwide total landing in the $300 million range. On paper, that looks like a hit. 

In reality, the film’s production budget, hovering around $70–80 million, huge for the time, combined with marketing costs meant the margin wasn’t nearly as impressive as the raw numbers suggest. This wasn’t E.T. money. It wasn’t even Indiana Jones money. It was a step down, and for Spielberg, that was framed as a miss.

Framing it that way was especially easy to do because of how Hook earned its money. It eventually turned a profit because the movie kept playing in theaters as word of mouth prompted more and more repeat viewing. 

I was thirteen years old, and remember seeing it at least six times, going over and over again with the families of friends who’d heard it was good and decided they’d check it out. “I think we are going to go see Hook, I’ve heard it’s good,” someone would say. To which I’d respond, “I love Hook, count me in!”

Hook never had that BIG box office weekend that gets people talking. It just kept playing, kept being seen and enjoyed, as people showed up and watched.

That’s Hook in a nutshell. Lavish, beautiful, and deeply personal. The kind of movie you love, cherish, and keep to yourself until you’re ready to share it with someone you love. 

Hook Comes Out On Top In The End

Now most of the ludicrous condemnation of the movie has vanished. It’s a respected family classic, one people get excited about showing to their kids. 

Hook is a high-water mark in 1990s family filmmaking excellence, the kind of lavish production that Hollywood is no longer capable of producing and wouldn’t want to try to make, even if it could.

Table of Contents

A year ago, Ninja debuted the latest iteration of the Ninja Creami, the Swirl, which brought soft-serve home. Initially, I loved the ice cream maker, reviving the fervor of the 2000s frozen yogurt craze that I didn’t know I still had in me. Now, a full year later, how do I feel about the ice cream maker?

In the past year, the ice cream maker has gone through some minor updates. It has a new name, the Ninja Creami Scoop & Swirl, and comes in new colors, including stone & gold and sage green. It hasn’t changed in price, still $349.99, though usually you can find it on sale for just $299.99.

But how has the Ninja Creami Scoop and Swirl made itself at home in my kitchen? Here are my thoughts a year later.

I got a sneak peek of the Ninja Scoop & Swirl at the brand’s event in February 2025 and was reliving the froyo craze.
Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable

A year later — do I still use the Ninja Creami Scoop & Swirl?

Testing products for a living, there’s a lot of tech coming in and out of my house, some more memorable than others. The best earn a permanent spot in my rotation, like the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition, Bose QuietComfort headphones, and the Ninja Luxe Café Premier Espresso Machine. But what about the Ninja Creami Scoop & Swirl?

The Ninja Creami Scoop & Swirl was a staple on my counter through last summer. I loved using it when we had friends over on a sweltering summer evening. Not only was it a delicious post-dinner treat, but a fun activity for everyone to take a turn swirling their own soft serve. But once summer turned to fall, I packed the Scoop & Swirl away for the winter, and I probably won’t be bringing it back out this year, unless it’s for a special occasion.

For me, it’s about counter space. The Scoop & Swirl takes up about twice the space as the original Creami, which just makes it too impractical for my apartment kitchen. If I had a bigger kitchen with a lot more storage, it might earn a permanent spot, but it isn’t practical enough to be a kitchen staple for me.

I still think the Creami Scoop & Swirl is a delightful gadget for ice cream lovers, especially if you have the space for it. Read on for my complete thoughts on the ice cream maker.

How does the Ninja Creami Scoop & Swirl work?

Place the pint on the left side of the machine, and you’ll have fresh soft serve within seconds.
Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable

The Ninja Scoop & Swirl builds off of the original Creami technology. Each Scoop & Swirl comes with two pints to mix up your concoctions. Once filled, the pints must be frozen for 24 hours before you can “spin” them. You can think of the spinning process as a reverse blender. Instead of the blade sitting at the bottom, it comes down from the top, cutting and spinning through the ice cream until it’s as creamy as what you buy from the store.

Each Creami has a variety of settings, including ice cream, lite ice cream, frozen yogurt, sorbet, gelato, and milkshake. Plus, there are settings to re-spin if your mix is not the right texture or you want to add mix-ins.

The Scoop & Swirl adds a new feature for dispensing soft serve. The pints that come with the Scoop & Swirl all have a dispensing feature, which is utilized when you place them in the left-hand dispenser. Then, you pull the lever, and the machine pushes the ice cream out.

How is the Ninja Creami Scoop & Swirl different than the regular Creami?

The most significant difference between the Scoop & Swirl and the standard Creami is the ability to make soft serve. The regular and deluxe Ninja Creami produce scoopable ice cream or frozen drinks, and the Scoop & Swirl can do all of that, plus make soft serve. Part of the soft serve process is the inclusion of a soft serve dispenser that feels like you’re working at an ice cream shop, with a handle to pull and everything.

The biggest difference between soft serve and regular ice cream is air. Soft serve adds more air to achieve a light and fluffy texture compared to denser ice cream. In standard ice cream making, air is added during the churning and freezing process; however, the Ninja Creami brings air into play during the spinning process.

The Ninja Creami Scoop & Swirl features a setting that adds more air to the product so it’s ready to dispense as soft serve.

It’s creamier than ever

The Ninja Scoop & Swirl (right) spins pints to creamy perfection compared to the standard Ninja Creami (left).
Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable

When I was first introduced to the Ninja Scoop & Swirl, I was intrigued by the brand’s claim that this new device added more air to the spinning process to replicate classic soft serve or froyo. I was cautiously optimistic about this but still hesitant. My previous experience with the Ninja Creami was that getting the right texture, one that’s genuinely creamy and easy to scoop, requires at least one re-spin, but often more.

So when I first used the Ninja Scoop & Swirl, I wanted to try my go-to Creami recipe for chocolate hazelnut froyo. I mixed plain Greek yogurt with a chocolate hazelnut spread and let it freeze for over 24 hours. When it came time to spin the pint, my jaw was on the floor when, after one spin, it turned out to be the smoothest ice cream (pictured above, right) I’d ever seen from a Creami. Usually, getting anywhere near that consistency requires multiple spins, and even then, it’s still a little too thick (pictured above, left).

Ninja has clearly improved the technology between models and has struck gold. The spinning process is more powerful than ever on the Ninja Scoop & Swirl, regardless of whether you’re making soft serve or scoopable ice cream.

You never have to leave the house for soft serve again

There’s nothing I love more than leaving the house on a late summer evening to indulge in a cone of soft serve. It’s something you can’t get at home, unlike a pint of ice cream you buy at the grocery store. But now, with the Ninja Scoop & Swirl, I don’t have to leave the house for soft serve.

Using the Ninja Scoop & Swirl’s soft serve feature is impossibly easy. After spinning your pint on the soft serve setting, install the soft serve lid attachment and install the whole pint into the dispensing portion. Then, using the lever on the right side of the machine, release the ice cream.

Despite being non-dairy, the pineapple whip I made was exceptionally creamy.
Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable

I tried a couple of different recipes for the soft serve mechanism, both dairy and non-dairy. The creamiest was, unsurprisingly, the dairy-based froyo, which dispensed evenly without any air pockets to disrupt the flow of dispensing. The fruit whip I made, an ode to a Dole whip, still faired pretty well in the machine. It looked really smooth and silky after spinning, so I had high hopes when I went to dispense it.

It had a less consistent flow than the dairy recipe I made. Ninja warns users that they might hear some popping during the soft serve dispensing, just air pockets getting pushed out. I definitely experienced quite a lot of popping with the fruit whip, which resulted in a less consistent flow. My swirls weren’t as pretty as they were with the froyo, but the ice cream’s texture was fine while eating it. It just might not look as Instagrammable as other recipes.

That being said, using the soft serve dispenser is just straight-up fun. Pulling the lever and swirling the ice cream feels like you’re back in the froyo shop.

It’s made for meal preppers and protein maxxers

The Ninja Creami became an internet sensation through creators in the health and fitness space. Users see the device as a way to enjoy ice cream while still hitting their daily macros. At the Ninja event I attended, the brand doubled down on the Scoop & Swirl’s spot in the health space, collaborating with health and fitness creator John Jung to highlight the new Creamifit setting.

Creamifit is designed to work best with recipes that include protein powders or shakes, which is a huge draw for users already tapping the Creami to make protein-focused desserts.

I had an issue with the Creami in my first review: the pints require 24 hours of freezing before use, so it’s not like you can just have some ice cream on a whim. That remains the case for the Ninja Scoop & Swirl, so it’s best fit for meal preppers who want to prep a few pints at the beginning of the week so they’re ready to go when the mood strikes.

It isn’t great for single servings — or a crowd

The only real drawback I’ve found to the Ninja Scoop & Swirl soft-serve feature is that it’s not great for single servings or a crowd. At 16 oz, it’s best used to produce four four-ounce servings. At the Ninja event, I noticed the Ninja team needed to swap out the pints after about four people served themselves. So, if you’re planning on serving a crowd, prepare to have some backup pints ready.

If it’s just you enjoying the soft serve, you’ll have leftovers. The issue here is that the ice cream dispenses directly from the pint in which it’s frozen. It gets pretty messy during dispensing, so it’s not great to throw it back in the freezer like I would with the pints I used in the standard Creami.

That being the case, I found myself reaching for the Scoop & Swirl a lot less during the week. When it’s just me and my partner, we don’t want to polish off a pint, just the two of us, and we don’t want to deal with the messy leftover pint. So, I waited until we had a couple more people over before using the soft serve function.

If you want to enjoy the soft serve in single servings, I recommend having a clean pint on hand and moving your leftovers there after use.

It’s still way too loud — and even bigger than before

The number one complaint you will hear about the Ninja Creami is its volume. Imagine a powerful vacuum and then crank it up a couple of notches — that’s how loud the Ninja Creami is. This makes it less than ideal for parents looking to sneak in a late-night snack when the kids are asleep, apartment dwellers sharing a wall with their neighbors, or pet owners. My cat seriously hates the Ninja Scoop & Swirl, even if he begs me for the fruits of its labor.

Unfortunately, the Scoop & Swirl is just as loud as the Creami, as you can hear from the video above. While it’s a total pain hearing it go on for six minutes, it’s an unavoidable part of the Creami experience.

The Ninja Scoop & Swirl takes up valuable counter space.
Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable

Because of the addition of the soft serve dispenser, the Ninja Scoop & Swirl is a lot bigger than the Creami. As an apartment dweller with already limited counter space, I may not be able to justify making the Scoop & Swirl a permanent fixture in my kitchen. However, if you have endless counter or storage space or just really love ice cream, making room for it is a worthy sacrifice.

Is the Ninja Scoop & Swirl worth it?

Should you indulge in soft serve at home?
Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable

Yes, the Ninja Scoop & Swirl is worth it as long as you have the counter space. Having tested both the standard Ninja Creami and the Ninja Scoop & Swirl, the Scoop & Swirl is the better investment as an ice cream maker. It has improved performance, requiring fewer re-spins to achieve a creamy consistency. Soft serve or froyo fiends will love the new dispensing feature, which is exceptionally easy to use and, not to mention, really fun.

There are certainly drawbacks, such as its size and how loud it is to use, but if you’re prepared for both, there’s no reason that it will inhibit your experience using it.

It will cost you $349.99; however, with the capability to make both soft serve and scoopable ice cream, it’s the best-valued Creami device yet.

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