The young boy who keeps the clocks running in the Paris train station.

Rating: Null/10 (26 March 2012)

With as much advance publicity this film received ... several Oscars and awarded best film of the year by some groups ... it would be easy to be disappointed, but my wife and I were not. It is a very entertaining and very visually pleasing movie.
Set in 1930s Paris the first thing is not to be thrown off by all the characters speaking with a British accent. In a form of throwback this is how movies were often made back in the middle of the 20th century.
The story starts with the Paris train station at its busiest, with the Eiffel tower in the background. In the first 2 minutes we get glimpses of most of the main characters, and all of them by the 4 minute mark. The title character is Asa Butterfield as Hugo Cabret whom we soon discover is living in the expansive walls of the train station and keeping the massive clocks wound and running. We wonder, how did he get to this point, and why is an 11-year-old allowed to do this?
Hugo is a fictional character but Ben Kingsley plays the real Georges Méliès, the French auteur who in the late 1890s and early 1900s made dozens of movies each year, and pioneered many of the film techniques that would shape the future of the industry. Méliès was in his 70s by the 1930s and was nearing his demise. He had long quit making movies and now makes a small living selling items in the train station. This movie is a relatively accurate depiction of him.
Their paths cross when Hugo is trying to pilfer a mechanical mouse but is grabbed and forced to surrender his notebook, with the mysterious drawings of an automaton, a mechanical man that also had a history in Méliès' life.
What might seem like an unusual choice Sacha Baron Cohen (of 'Borat' fame) plays the Station Inspector after petty criminals and runaways. He is very effective in this role.
American Chloë Grace Moretz (vampire in 'Let Me In'), about the same age as Butterfield, is Isabelle and lives in Méliès' household, although she says he is not her grandfather. She and Hugo eventually become fast friends and she helps assure his notebook is not burned.
Jude Law has a small but important role as Hugo's dad.
So, what is this movie about? The young boy gaining some resolution about his dad and becoming a spark to get Méliès excited about movies again right before his death.
SPOILERS: Hugo knew little about the automaton that his dad salvaged when it was being discarded, but the notebook was of his dad's drawings to try to rebuild it. His dad died in a tragic explosion and fire and Hugo took refuge in his dad's old job to avoid being placed with his drunkard uncle. The automaton originated with Méliès who was shaken by the images it brought back in his mind.