Hugo: Movie Review

Cast: Asa Butterfield, Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jude Law, Chloe Grace Moretz, Emily Mortimer

Director: Martin Scorsese

With talk of awards and nominations already stacking up for this 3D film, it’s fair to say it arrives in cinemas with the weight of expectation heavily upon it.

Butterfield (who many will remember from the Boy With the Striped Pyjamas) stars as orphan Hugo Cabret. Cabret lives in the walls around the station of Paris in the world of the 1930s; after his clock maker father (Jude Law) died in a fire at the museum where he worked, Cabret was an orphan.

But Cabret spends his day stealing food and clockwork pieces from Ben Kingsley’s toy shop owner, Papa Georges, as he has a secret. Hugo is trying to rebuild an automaton left to him by his father as he believes the machine has a message from his departed dad.

But, Hugo’s missing a heart shaped key for it – and it appears Isabelle, Georges’ granddaughter, may be able to help unlock the mystery.

Martin Scorsese’s film is a passionate piece about a love of cinema – even though it doesn’t start out like that. Initially, it appears to be a tale about an orphan boy, avoiding the clutches of Sacha Baron Cohen’s station master.

However, it soon switches to a mesmerizing and breathtakingly beautiful tale which celebrates the wonder of cinema and the influence of early film makers – specifically, one by the name of Georges Melies.

It’s also a stunning use of 3D as well and it finally makes the technology feel magical and wondrous. Opening with a shot of a clockwork mechanism, it fades into a Paris landscape and then swoops majestically into the train station – it’s a bold and stupendous opening shot which shows the scope of Scorsese’s ambition for this film.

Cinephiles will love this film – it’s bound to be a classic celebration of the pioneering cinematic forefathers – but Hugo is not just for film fans.

It’s a beautifully crafted, passionately heartfelt and spellbinding, enigmatic and magical film which is a captivating watch from beginning to end.

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