[8]
In 1931 Paris, an orphaned boy named Hugo (Asa Butterfield) lives in a train station and gets caught up in a mystery involving a broken automaton and a cranky old toy-maker (Ben Kingsley). With the help of an adventurous new friend (Chloë Grace Moretz), the boy avoids the zealous station inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen) and ends up discovering the forgotten legacy of pioneering magician and filmmaker Georges Méliès (A Trip to the Moon).
Director Martin Scorsese makes his foray into 3D with Hugo, a highly visual family film based on the novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. Scorsese brings style and poetry to screenwriter John Logan’s adaptation of the material, which should appeal to adults as well as children. Butterfield doesn’t have to try hard to evoke our sympathies, and he’s surrounded by a terrific supporting cast. Kingsley is stern and mystifying as the toy-maker who turns out to be Méliès, bitter by the implosion of his film career many years earlier. Chloë Grace Moretz is naturalistic and charming, and Sacha Baron Cohen is very memorable as the film’s chief antagonist in a surprisingly endearing performance. The film also makes good use of Christopher Lee, Emily Mortimer, Michael Stuhlbarg, Ray Winstone, and Jude Law.
At its heart, Hugo is a story about discovering and embracing one’s purpose in life. Hugo finds pride in being ‘a fixer’ — not just of broken clocks and toys, but of broken people, too. It’s a sweet film full of warm, Dickens-like characters, and stellar aesthetics. It’s especially engrossing in 3D — probably one of the best uses of the format outside of Avatar. The fact that Scorsese is able to incorporate educational content — the birth of cinema and the true story of Georges Méliès — makes it especially irresistible to cinephiles.
With Helen McCrory, Richard Griffiths, and Frances de la Tour.
Academy Awards: Cinematography (Robert Richardson), Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Visual Effects, Art Direction
Oscar Nominations: Best Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay (John Logan), Film Editing, Costume Design, Score (Howard Shore)