Paris, 1930 viewed through the eyes of a young boy, who lost his beloved father and lives as an orphan. The renaissance of an old director, supposed to be dead, who revolutionized the cinema in his youth. And the magical view on the cinema of Martin Scorcese, who once again shows us his versatile talent.

Mythical gangster movies, shocking psychological horror thrillers, or a controversial movie about the life and death of Jesus Christ: director Martine Scorcese always tries to bring us something completely different. Scorcese was always obsessed about being the prodigal director, to the point to keep asking his wife, Isabella Rossellini about the “secret” of her father, the famous director Roberto Rossellini.

French connection

In this perspective that’s not such a surprise, that Hugo is vastly different from anything else Scorcese has done before. Think about a family movie with a French theme to it, with the innocence and humor which reminds of us of Tintin, mixed with the homage-like approach of Scorcese to one of the most famous directors of the early 20th century, when the cinema was born.

Added to that, there is also a little City of the Lost Children feeling in the movie.

Oh and let’s not forget, the visually impressive world of Hugo – all in 3D this time. Yes, Hugo is actually a 3D movie (you can watch in 2D as well of course, but you will lose some from the magical art of Scorcese…) Hugo lives in a train station, under the gigantic clockwork of the station clock.

His only companion is an automaton which was salvaged by his father, and which a little scary. There’s of course the almost obligatory nod to another classical movie: the automaton is a clear allusion to Fritz Lang’s Metropolis.

Homage a Scorcese

There are so much homages, allusions, and overwhelming love from Scorcese about the eerie birth of the cinema that the story of Hugo suffers somewhat from it. While looking through the expressive eyes of the 14 years old Asa Butterfield, we are not only marveling at the magical world of Scorcese, but also to the fact, how just a few things happens in the movie with even less surprises.

Don’t take me wrong: Hugo is far from predictable and boring, but the story itself isn’t as strong as you would expect from a movie of this scale.

Scorcese rather wanted five “Oscars” instead of one “Hugo”…

The problem with Hugo is that we expect so much with a premise of Hugo, and with Oscars, that it may disappoint us that it isn’t as “heart and soul touching” as you would count on it. Make no mistake: Hugo is a pretty good movie, with excellent visual, but you will only love it, if you are into the “artsy”, family kind of genre. If possible, rather watch the movie in 3D, as it’s add a whole new level to it.

I have to mention, that I watched it on my LG Optimus 3D phone (with native 3D capabilities), and on this little screen the visuals weren’t so special, so choose a big ass 3D television to watch Hugo.

-BadSector-