The Magic of Cinema

Rating: 9/10 (12 March 2012)

How so many people didn't enjoy Hugo truly baffles me. It's quite possible that hype backlash from the rave reviews and award nominations did Hugo a big disservice. No, it's not a masterpiece; it's not one of Scorsese's best films, and in most years, it wouldn't have deserved a best film Oscar nomination. But in the very weak 2011, it certainly deserved a nomination, and, considering the competition, maybe even the win.
The number one thing people ought to realize when going into it is that Hugo is not a fantasy movie. Personally, I was happy to find that out, but apparently many were disappointed. So, once again - Hugo is NOT a fantasy story, though a dreamlike atmosphere helps it straddle the line between fantasy and reality while never really crossing over. It's a fanciful adventure story, focused around a child, yes, and definitely fun for children, but by no means a children's film exclusively; most of all it's a love letter to cinema itself, most of all to the pioneers of film, and that love is what makes it so effective. Like another flawed Scorsese film - Gangs of New York - the director's unbridled passion for the subject matter makes all the difference, and it's difficult not to catch his enthusiasm.
Clearly, not everybody enjoyed Hugo, but for the life of me I can't really understand why. I can see how you might find the subject matter tedious, the protagonist annoying, maybe the movie thirty minutes too long; but speaking for myself, it was so much fun and so gorgeous that I didn't want it to end. Even if you didn't like the narrative, the cinematography and the sets are beyond beautiful. This is also the first movie I've seen in which the 3D actually added something to the narrative, as it helps create that feeling of magic, that dreamlike quality of cinema, that sense of wonder that we have lost in the century since the medium was invented, and which Hugo is all about.