Not at all what it was made out to be, in a bad way

Rating: 4/10 (2 July 2012)

I had wanted to see this movie for a long time. After getting all these nominations and winning 5 Oscars, beating out The Descendants (which I loved), I figured it had to be good. I was wrong. The only amazing aspect of this movie was the visual. I'll give them that, the costumes, set design, and CGI were really cool to look at, but that's not going to keep me entertained for 2 hours. The plot line was utterly boring and pointless, while the acting from pretty much everyone was over-dramatic and cheesy. I can't seem to understand what all the big fuss is about this movie. From watching the trailers, I got the impression, as did the rest of the world I'm sure, that it was an Action/Adventure movie about an orphan boy in a train station trying to unlock a secret about his father. Sort of like A Series of Unfortunate Events, right? Nope.
Here's a few things that I did not like (the list goes on and on): First, the plot is really boring to begin with. It seems that they spend the first 30 minutes of the movie just setting the scene, with the little boy Hugo just running around the train station. Gets your attention at first, but gets boring really fast. Then, as soon as you think the movie has climaxed and about to get a little better, they completely scrap the already boring plot they had and pursue and even more boring one. If you've seen the movie, then you know that the resolve/ending was just a way for Scorsese to discreetly glorify himself and suck up to the Academy. Definitely don't take the kids to this one. It looks so kid friendly and fun for the whole family, but I promise, you will be asleep within the first hour. And one more thing, why the heck is EVERY character speaking in a British accent when they are in Paris??? Very unrealistic and obnoxious. Easy fix: set it in London! Big picture, I was extremely disappointed in this movie and am still confused as to why it is so critically acclaimed.