Nothing like Scorcesse has ever done before

Rating: 8/10 (30 July 2014)

Hugo is nothing like Scorcesse has ever done before. Set in 1930s Paris, an orphan who lives in the walls of a train station is wrapped up in a mystery involving his late father and an automaton.
Ben Kingsley is as solid as you would expect, as is Christopher Lee, Sacha Baron Cohen is as splendid as always and Jude Law is even not as annoying as normal in his role as Hugo's doting father.
But it's Asa Butterfield as the title character and Chloë Grace Moretz as his friend Isabelle who are the stars of this movie. Both young actors are superb. These two bright kids are miles apart from the cute little pint-sized child actors in most family pictures. But with 'The Boy In Stripped Pajamas' in Butterfield's CV and movies such as 'Kick Ass' and 'Hick' in Grace Moretz's we should not be surprised. I think both definitely have bright futures as actors if they wish to continue to pursue it.
I can understand why some children complained and found it boring. It's certainly a long movie, and its more about relationships than the trailer suggests. There are scenes where not a lot happens other than deepening the relationship between Hugo and whoever he is sharing the screen with. But that is fine for me, I'd much rather have a longer character driven movie than a 90 minute one, where I'm not so invested in the characters.
Despite critical praise and eleven Oscar nominations (winning 5 of them) this movie was a Box Office flop. I think if it was sold differently, Hugo might have done differently.
I only caught this on TV yesterday, and now regret not going to the cinema to see it in 3-D. As you can tell Scorsesse has used it in the right way, not as the selling point of a story, but to enhance it.