"Hugo" Review

I jusr returned from Martin Scorsese's Hugo which is a magical little fairy tale movie which offers drama, humor, mystery, pathos, romance, and a bit of cinema history.. The sets and special effects are perfect. It's one of those rare movies that has universal appeal. I 'd be skeptical of anyone from 9 to 90 who didn't like the movie. The packed theater audience applauded at the end.

It's the tale of a young orphan boy named Hugo (Asa Butterfield) who lives by himself in the bowels of the huge Montparnasse train station. He feeds himself by stealing from food venders in the station. His father (Jude Law) was a clock maker who had looked after the many huge, old mechanical clocks in the station until he was killed in a tragic fire, leaving his son Hugo to tend the clocks. Hugo is befriended by Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz), a beautiful young girl whose elderly and unhappy uncle, Georges Melies, has a toy shop in the Montparnasse station. Melies actually was an early 1900s film maker and illusionist in Paris. (His Wiki bio is linked below.) Sacha Baron Cohen provides many belly laughs in his role as the Chief Inspector at the station in a comic version of Javert from Les Miserables relentlessly pursuing Hugo throughout the movie tryng to catch him and send him away to an orphanage.

Finally, the movie offers a small, special treat for Django Reinhardt fans--a Django Reinhardt look-alike playing his "gypsy jazz" in the Montparnasse train station.

Hugo received 11 Academy Award nominations including Best Director and Best Picture in 2011..

MPAA Rating

PG (for mild thematic material, some action/peril, and smoking)