Hugo (***)
Directed by: Martin Scorcese
Starring: Asa Butterfield, Ben Kingsley, Chloë Grace Moretz, Sacha Baron
Cohen, Ray Winstone, Jude Law, Christopher Lee, Helen McCrory, Michael
Stuhlbarg, Emily Mortimer
Seen: February 11th 2012
*** Out of ****
Hugo came to South African shores riding a wave of anticipation based
on a great trailer, excellent advance word-of-mouth from critics and the
American public, and 11 Academy Awards nominations. A movie aimed more at
children from Martin Scorcese, the decidedly non-child-friendly director of
such movies as The Departed, Shutter Island, Bringing Out the Dead, Casino,
Goodfellas and many more certainly peaks the interest, and Hugo is as innocent
a movie as can be.
12-year old orphan Hugo Cabret (Butterfield) lives in the Paris train
station on stolen scraps and memories of his father (Law, seen in flashbacks),
who died in a museum fire. Hugo was left to live with his uncle Claude
(Winstone) in the station’s hidden caverns and grotto-like rooms everyone has
forgotten about, looking after the station’s clocks. When Claude disappears, Hugo
must stay hidden as Station Inspector Gustav (Cohen) takes his job very seriously
and is tough on orphans running around loose. Hugo’s one mission in life is to
repair an automaton which he was busy reapiring with his father, believing the
machine contains a final message for him from his father.
Working in the station are various people Hugo has a spying eye on;
the newspaper vendor, a coffee shop owner, a bookstore owner (Lee), and most
notably the owner and purveyor of a toy shop, George Mellies (Kingsley). Hugo
has been stealing toys from George to obtain parts to complete the automaton,
but George cathces Hugo and forces him to work for him. Hugo meets George’s
goddaughter, Isabelle (Moretz), and they become friends. Hugo and Isabelle
sneak into the movies, something George has always denied her, and Isabelle
introduces Hugo to books. When Hugo discovers that Isabelle has a missing
component of the automaton, a heart-shaped key, on her person, he reveals the
existence of the machine and they manage to activate it. What the automaton
reveals leads them on a journey surprisingly close to home which opens up a
past George would rather have left undisturbed, regardless of how miserable he
was for leaving this part of his life behind. Here the movie changes into a
celebration of the origin of movies, and it’s interesting to see the way the
medium is treasured and revered as the characters go through all kinds of
emotional turmoil up to a very upbeat and encouraging ending.
While Hugo is a beautiful and
emotional family story with a message that contains a heart of gold, I believe
the same story could have been told in a much more invigorating and engaging
style in about 30 minutes less. Hugo feels very slow at times and a lack of
music in many scenes only makes it feel longer (and emptier). The characters
are well rounded and it is refreshing to see a story told in such a classical
way; Sacha Baron Cohen as the station inspector is the movie’s stand-out. I feel
that it was nominated for Academy Awards for best picture, director, and
screenplay purely to fill up those lists, with the bulk of its remaining
nominations being for technical awards. Hugo is not as good as advance word
claims, but it is a sweet and honest story to be quietly enjoyed with family.
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