MESSAGE IN THE MOVIES

Hugo  Rated PG

Directed by Martin Scorsese. Starring Asa Butterfield, Chloë Grace Moritz.

Photo: Paramount Studios
Movie Review by Rev. Bruce Batchelor Glader

Let me begin by telling you that Hugo is something to see – it is a beautiful demonstration about how a 3D movie can create a fantastical world all its own.  The Parisian train station in which this story takes place is full of hidden tunnels, gigantic time pieces, vendors and theaters and hundreds of people, and Martin Scorsese films it all in cinematic beauty and lets Hugo, the main character, run about the premises, with us following along with his point of view.

So, technically speaking, this is one stunning film.

Story-wise, Hugo is a big disappointment.  Hugo is an orphan who living in the Paris of the early 1930s, who has taken on the self-appointed task of keeping all of the clocks in the train station running on time.  When he’s not dashing around moving clock hands, he is stealing food and gadgets from the merchants.  The food feeds his stomach while the gadgets are dismantled to help him reconstruct an invention of his late father’s.  He meets a young girl (Grace Moritz) who is being raised by a grumpy toyshop merchant (Ben Kingsley), who is hiding some secrets about filmmaking as well as Hugo’s invention.

Hugo is based on the 2008 Caldecott Medal Award-winning picture book The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick.  The book itself has the same sweeping style as the movie, but director Martin Scorsese, who has been involved for a long time in raising awareness and funding for movie preservation, has discovered a perfect vehicle to plead his cause.  And this is where the film (in my opinion) loses its magic.  This incredible storybook Paris is interrupted with film clips of the real-life filmmaker Georges Méliès and a short documentary about his early movies.  If your children weren’t bored before this moment, this will probably send them pulling on your sleeve or texting on their cell phones (not a good idea).

The majority of critics have a mutual love of film and Martin Scorsese, arguably the greatest living American film director, so Hugo has received incredible plaudits, including the National Board of Review’s Best Picture Award.  Hugo is certainly worth seeing at least once, but you should probably leave the kids at home with a sitter and some Pixar DVDs.  Hey – who am I kidding? – if you have your kids home with a sitter, go see a movie that you’ll really like!
       

Pitchfork/Halo Ratings:

Two halos: An expansive fantasy about the value of motion picture preservation and the cinematic art of Georges Méliès.

One pitchfork: Hugo pilfers a lot of stuff from train station merchants.

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