1920's Paris comes to life

Rating: 8/10 (12 December 2011)

This is a wonderful story about a boy, Hugo, who fixes and maintains the clocks in a Paris railway station after his father dies and leaves him an orphan. With the help of a young girl, Isabelle, they set about finding out the story of an old toymaker, Georges Melies, the young girl's father. In actual fact there are many story lines in this movie, many threads that are followed, and the way Scorsese ties them all together is wonderful. If I had any criticism it is that the actual story takes a while to get moving. In fact until about half way I wasn't sure where the story was going, which story was the main thread. If this was Scorsese's intention then the second half made it all worthwhile and I will certainly enjoy the whole movie on a second viewing. But I was a little bewildered for the first hour. I again commend the director for producing a wonderful movie without bad language, sex or gratuitous violence.