Hugo
2011  PG  DRAMA  2h 6min
CAST— Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Asa Butterfield, Chloë Grace Moretz, Ray Winstone, Emily Mortimer, Christopher Lee, Jude Law
MUSIC— Howard Shore  DIRECTOR— Martin Scorsese  BASED ON— The Invention of Hugo Cabret (novel), by Brian Selznick

     The infancy of cinema is lauded in this family friendly drama. Hugo is a young orphan who makes his way through life sneaking about the massive train station centered in Paris. His late father, a clock maker by trade, left him with a knowledge of the intricacies of the cogs. Hugo was also left with their pet project: a non-functioning automaton, a mechanical man whose cogs allow it to wow the viewer by doing simple tasks in its pre-robotic way. Hugo’s focus is fixing the automaton in honor of his father, but he’s recently lost his father’s notebook when he attempted to steal a mechanical toy from a vendor inside the station. Now Georges the shopkeeper has the notebook, threatening to burn it, but clearly shaken up by the information within. Hugo befriends Georges’ goddaughter, an avid reader always looking for an adventure. Their adventure begins when the automaton is in working order, its task being that it draws a distinctive image from A Trip to the Moon (1902), an early cinematic effort by innovative filmmaker Georges Méliès. To further their adventure they learn what ties bind everything together. This film seems a labor of love from director Martin Scorsese, himself passionate for the cause of film restoration and preservation, central themes of the film. It takes a while for the film to get going but once it takes off any classic film lover will be glad they stuck around. Oscar-winner for Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing.
OUR RATING— ***