‘Hugo’ DVD Review

Director: Martin Scorsese

Cast: Asa Butterfield, Chloe Grace Moretz, Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Helen McCory, Jude Law, Ray Winstone, Christopher Lee

Plot: Hugo Cabret is young boy who lives in a Paris train station during 1931. His day is divided up into keeping the clocks wound, avoiding the security guard, observing the lives of the regular patrons and stealing parts from the toymaker in order to repair an automaton left behind by his father. Before long Hugo begins learns that the toymaker is more than just a cantankerous old man…

Review: When I sat down to watch Hugo I was largely ignorant of the plot. I knew that is was a whimsical and colourful film concerning the adventure of a pair of young scamps living in a train station along with their unholy mechanical friend. What I didn’t know was how much of the main narrative concerned the true identity of the toy maker (played wonderfully by Ben Kingsley) who happened to be a real life figure with whom I have always had much interest in. Much of my delight in the film was when the penny dropped – having been familiar with the life story of the man I put the pieces together quite early in the film – and was given an insight into the life and the work of a true marvel. It’s kinda strange that I managed to see the film without getting wind of this major plot point, but with The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises coming out it’s not to surprising.

From the outset Hugo has all the elements of what could’ve been a very smug, saccharine movie. The period piece tale of an orphan boy fending for itself while helping an old man rediscover the meaning in his life sounds like the worst kind of Oscar bait. Scorsese takes a different tack on this story compared how a typical director may have approached it. On a surface level the movie has a bright, colourful and densely detailed take on Paris, bringing it to life in the manner of a children’s book. The design work, based around cogs and clockwork, is a complete marvel and well deserved of the accolades it has received.

For the majority of the movie the narrative is put aside in favour of style. The story is very good, but often seems to function second to the design. The motivation behind the film as a whole seems to be a love letter to works of the old man and while a geek like me can easily get carried away with this idea it may not hit home for all members of the audience, especially those who are previously unfamiliar with him. Some plot elements, such as the automaton, seem more important during some acts of the movie than others, and the importance of some background characters fluctuates from scene to scene.

Hugo isn’t created so much as a movie but as a love letter to cinema. If you’re watching it we can maybe assume that you’ve got at least a passing interest in movies, so there’s a good chance you’ll be along for the ride. It’s fantastic to look at but the story is variable.

Score: SEVEN outta TEN