Susan Granger’s review of “Hugo” (Paramount Pictures)
Martin Scorsese brings Brian Selznick’s beloved children’s book, “The Invention of Huge Cabret,” to life in this magical adventure, gloriously filmed in 3-D and set in a busy Parisian train station in the 1930s.
Living with his dissolute uncle (Ray Winstone) in a tiny apartment secreted in the walls in the station’s rafters, Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) is an intrepid 12 year-old orphan who oils and maintains the station’s clocks. His prize possession is a broken-down automaton and a notebook, left by his father (Jude Law), containing complicated instructions about how to repair the intricate, wind-up robotic figure. Cleverly eluding the watchful Inspector (Sasha Baron Cohen) and his Doberman, Hugo stealthily steals the tiny parts he needs from cranky toy-store proprietor Georges Melies (Ben Kingsley), who eventually catches him. Because he fears that his precious notebook will be burned, Hugo dares to leave the station and follow Melies home, where he befriends his goddaughter Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz) and discovers that embittered Melies is a magician-turned- pioneer filmmaker who once worked in an awesome glass studio, creating 500 incredible sci-fi fantasies, the most famous of which was “A Trip to the Moon” (1902). Indeed, visionary Georges Melies (1861-1938) was the first filmmaker to recognize the connection between the cinema and dreams.
Director Martin Scorsese, cinematographer Robert Richardson and set designer Dante Ferretti have integrated not only fanciful impressions of French visual culture, including Dadaism and the short films of Man Ray, Leger, Rene Clair, and the Lumiere brothers, but also richly detailed remnants of the Mechanical Age, including the clocks and the trains, particularly the locomotives. Deserving recognition are Sandy Powell’s costumes, Rob Legato’s visual effects, John Logan’s adaptation, Thelma Schoonmaker’s editing and Howard Shore’s musical score – along with the superb acting ensemble, including Helen McCrory, Emily Mortimer and Christopher Lee. Artfully integrated into the concept is Scorsese’s passionate plea for the preservation of film, the most innovative art form of the 20th century.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Hugo” is an opulent, dazzling, enchanting 10. It’s family-friendly fun.
