Movie Review: Hugo
Hugo is the first family movie Martin Scorsese has ever made, and only the second PG rated movie. Like Woody Allen, Scorsese has made a bit of a comeback in the last few years, making The Aviator (one of my all-time favorites), the Departed (good, but overrated), and now Hugo, nominated for best picture.
I didn’t see Hugo in the theater, and they say it’s really made for 3D. While I can’t speak for that, I can say that I loved Hugo and wish I had seen it sooner. It’s one of the best movies Scorsese has ever made, and proves that he can do more than just gangster movies and biographies. Hugo is beautifully shot, and boosts and exceptional cast.
Hugo is an orphan who lost his dad in a fire and has since lived inside a clock in a Paris train station in the 1930s. He meets a young girl named Isabelle played by rising star Chloe grace Moretz, who helps him rebuild a machine that his late father bought at auction before he passed away. Hugo hopes that the machine will hold some kind of message or offer him closure. Ben Kingsley plays a sad, bitter magician/toymaker in the station, and Hugo makes it his mission to “fix him.”
This really is a movie for the whole family. I really enjoyed it, and I could imagine myself loving it even more when I was a kid. It was fun, mysterious, and the characters were all so believable and likable. It’s rare to see a live-action family film that’s this good, but Scorsese pulls if off nicely.