3-D is often a gimmick not worth its expensive price, but the experience Hugo offers is priceless.
Photo courtesy of google images
Up until now, the last movie I saw with worthwhile 3-D effects was Avatar. Hugo (based on the novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick) is worth the expensive 3-D price. Its effects captivated me, and the 3-D gave the movie a sense of realism unlike any other.
The opening scene has the camera flying through crowds of people, eventually stopping on Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield, The Wolfman), a lowly Parisian orphan, secretly living in the train station. This is where the movie, essentially, lifts off and tells the compelling story of a 1930s Parisian train station.
The story of Hugo is a very sad one indeed. Orphaned by his father’s death in a museum fire, Hugo is sent to live with his Uncle Claude (Ray Winstone, Edge of Darkness). His uncle has an occupation fixing the train station clocks, but leaves Hugo to the job of maintaining and fixing them almost right after taking custody of him. This back-story is told in flashbacks, and gives some insight on the main plot of the movie. Hugo and his father, being clock makers, were trying to revive an old automaton (a small automated man, made to perform a certain service), before his father died in the fire. This particular automaton’s service was to write, and Hugo believes it to contain a message from his dead father.
Photo courtesy of google images
Hugo needs various cogs, gears, and screws to get the automaton running again, and even needs to find a heart shaped winder. Finding all the parts necessary is not an easy task, but luckily for Hugo, there is a toy store in the train station with many of the parts he needs. However, with the Station Inspector (Sacha Baron-Cohen, Bruno) patrolling the station, and the shopkeeper, George Melies (Ben Kingsley, Shutter Island ), catching him in the act, things get complicated. Hugo ends up teaming up with a girl named Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz, Kick-Ass), who helps Hugo complete his task. Isabelle is raised by the mysterious Melies and his wife, and helps Hugo retrieve his journal from Melies, who took it very early on in the movie. The two children have no idea why Melies took the journal in the first place, and this opens up the mystery to the second half of the movie.
That is the main plot of the movie, and without spoiling things, I believe the longer the move ran, the better it got. Hugo lives in the walls, balconies, and clocks of the train station, keeping the clocks running to avoid suspicion. As it is, the ruthless Station Inspector (who enjoys catching orphans and sending them to the orphanage) is on a constant alert, using his dog as a partner in crime. Baron-Cohen portrays this pitiful Inspector fairly well, and even gets a few laughs out of the audience. Moretz, and Butterfield may be children, but they do superb jobs acting in their Parisian roles.
Many times, the setting is the main character. The beautiful 1930s Paris is brought to life, with much thanks to the 3-D effects. I could almost feel the snow coming down, and the train station rumbling. Some of the best 3-D effects come from the classical movies shown within the movie. Film was a very interesting concept in the past, and hundreds of short films were created that explored the imaginations of people, in ways they didn’t even understand.
Hugo isn’t a movie: it’s an experience. The 3-D is stellar, the story is captivating, and the setting is interesting. Martin Scorsese (GoodFellas, The Departed) has done a fantastic job bringing this book to the big screen. I had no idea what Hugo was, or what it was about walking into the theater, but I left wanting to read the book, and compare it to the movie. If all you want from a movie is tons of action, or gut-busting comedy, then you won’t find it here. If you’re more interested in drama, and an enthralling story line, see this movie.
★★★★★
