Hugo

When I first read that Martin Scorcese was directing a family film, I could hardly believe my eyes. The man responsible for Goodfellas, Casino, and The Departed was going to make a movie for children? I knew it was going to be interesting. And it is. Hugo is a truly unique cinematic experience for anyone remotely familiar with the family film genre of the 21st century. Unlike its many contemporaries, Hugo isn't a film made to sell merchandise or create a franchise. Instead, it focuses on the things that are truly important in movie-making: acting, cinematography, story, and emotion.

Hugo is the story of Hugo Cabret, a Parisian orphan who lives in the walls of a train station and maintains the station's clocks. His only comfort is a broken automaton, his late father's pet project and Hugo's only remaining bond to his memory. After getting caught trying to rob a toy store owner to get the parts needed to finish the project, Hugo is whisked into a decades-old mystery involving the automaton, the toymaker, and the advent of the film industry. Asa Butterfield plays the titular character, and I was totally blown away by his performance. Expect to see great things from him in the future. His supporting cast is filled out wonderfully, from Ben Kingsley as the mysterious toymaker, to Chloë Grace Moretz as Hugo's friend Isabelle, and Sacha Baron Cohen as the film's antagonist: a comical, yet strangely tragic security guard that crusades against the orphans that inhabit the station. Every character fits right in with the movie's tone: whimsical, with just enough darkness and pain in it to let the audience connect it with the real world.


Visually, this is one of the most stunning movies I've ever seen. Everything, from the early 20th century grandiosity of the train station to the montages detailing the silent film creation process, is shot in such a way that every bit of the visual story perfectly compliments the audio story that the actors and score tell. Everything from the camera angles to the color of the costumes is so meticulously perfect that it's visually moving in a sense unlike anything else I've ever seen. It won its Oscar in cinematography for a very, VERY good reason.


Hugo is, without question, one of the best family movies I've ever seen. It can be a bit slow at times, and its lack of constant hectic stimulation make it an odd fit in the world of SpongeBob Squarepants and those awful Alvin and the Chipmunks movies, but it's definitely a family film that won't put the parents in agony. If anything, they'll probably like it more than the kids will. I give it 9 dramatic camera-zooms through clockwork out of 10.