Movie Review - "Hugo" (2011) ****

     I recently reviewed the 3-D conversion that was done to Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, and I was not that impressed with it. The 3-D format has never really interested me too much as I feel it often doesn't add to films, but it can take away from them. That's not to say it can't be done well, as the couple of times I have seen it perfected ended up being special treats. The first time was a few years ago when I saw Avatar, a movie that has to be seen in 3-D to be truly appreciated. I was blown away by that movie, yet it didn't hold up as well when I saw it in 2-D. The other time when 3-D really hooked me was this weekend, during a showing of Martin Scorsese's Hugo. Scorsese's homage to the early days of film-making utilizes the 3-D gimmick exceptionally well and it is worthy of it's Best Picture Oscar nomination.

     The film is based on the Caldecott-winning book, "The Invention of Hugo Cabret", written and illustrated by Brian Selznick. It tells the story of Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield), a 12-year old orphan who lives in the walls of a train station in Paris in the early 1930's. His father was a clockmaker who passed down his talents to his son. Hugo spends his days making sure the clocks in the train station are working properly. He has a knack of working with gears and gadgets and his primary hobby is an automaton, a self-operating machine or robot, that his father found and spent years trying to perfect and operate. Hugo is determined to get the automaton working but there is a heart-shaped key that is missing and seems to be the last piece needed to unlock the mysterious robot. While searching for the key, Hugo also draws the ire of a toy shopkeeper (Ben Kingsley) who catches Hugo stealing from him and threatens to report him to the station inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen). Hugo is able to avoid capture by disappearing into the walls of the station where he can't be caught.

     Hugo eventually meets up with Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz), the god-daughter of the shopkeeper, and the two become good friends. Isabelle has a love of books, while Hugo loves the movies, especially the ones his father took him to. Isabelle is in awe the first time Hugo takes her to a theater. It also turns out that Isabelle is the owner of the heart-shaped key that Hugo needs to unlock the automaton. When they eventually do this, it leads them to a discovery that neither could have expected about the shopkeeper, and to an adventure involving the earliest days of film history.

     Martin Scorsese is not known for family movies but he wanted to make a movie for his daughter and this was the gift he gave her. It turns out it was not only a gift for her, but for anyone who has appreciation for the history of cinema. Hugo unfolds slowly at times but we are wrapped up in the adventure that Hugo and Isabelle experience, and we find ourselves invested in their journey. Butterfield and Moretz are not your typical kids actors, they both have tremendous talent at young ages and bring a believability to their roles that would be missing with lesser actors. The always superb Ben Kingsley brings respectability to any role and he is perfect as the shopkeeper whose true identity gives us the foundation for our story. The highlight of the cast for me though was the scene-stealing work of Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat) as the station inspector who has a hobby of tracking down kids who are a nuisance to him. Cohen's Borat was one of the funniest movies I have seen in recent memories and here we get to see him "cleaned up" quite a bit, but equally as funny. Scorsese is a master director, one of the best of our generation, and it is a pleasure to see him step outside of his normal boundaries and make a film that both kids and adults can enjoy. Hugo is an absolute treat and a must-see for any lover of the cinema experience. Try to see it in 3-D if you can. James Cameron told Martin Scorsese that his film is the best use of 3-D there has been, even better than his own Avatar. He may be right.