Big names cannot save mediocre Hugo

Rating: 5/10 (4 December 2011)

Hype surrounding a movie is not always a recipe for success – there are the rare exceptions – but, unfortunately, Hugo is not one of them.
However, this will not affect box office figures as the big names attached, such as its director, and cast, but I can't see it having any lasting effect on audiences.
Mix together the elements of Harry Potter, The Golden Compass, Lord of the Rings, Moulin Rouge – without the magic – and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, et voila, you get Hugo.
And that is the problem in a nutshell – it has all the money and colour that Hollywood can buy, but it does not have its own unique identity due to a weak storyline.
It is the sad tale of a young boy (Butterfield) who's left all alone in the world when his clock-fixing father (Law) dies, but not before he has learned a few skills of his own.
His alcoholic uncle (Winstone) arrives on the scene and leaves Hugo with little choice for his future – either he starves or does his uncle's job, maintaining the clock tower at Paris railway station.
The only thing Hugo takes with him from home is a robot that his father rescued from a museum, and was in the process of fixing its intricate mechanics when he met his demise.
The notebook where he kept his drawings and ideas about the robot falls into the hands of French film pioneer, Georges Méliès (Kingsley).
Until he can get it back, Hugo is determined to finish the job, believing his father will send a sign through it, and he almost does complete the task but a heart shaped key needed to turn the robot on eludes him.
Hugo follows Méliès home and befriends his godchild (Moretz), who helps Hugo on his way to a happy ending.
On the outside, this has the potential to be a great movie, with the high-profile director at the helm, the scenes of Paris of the early 20th century are magnificent, and the cast could not have be bettered – notably, Butterfield (The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas) is excellent in the title role, and station inspector (Baron Cohen) brings some humour to an otherwise sad story – but there is little substance to it.
There were a few subplots, including those involving Christopher Lee (Lord of The Rings) and Frances De La Tour (Rising Damp), which were not explored enough.
In fact, the characters added little or no value to the story, and should have been cut out.
I could try to explain away my disappointment in this movie by being more than two decades older than the target audience, but that unfortunately still makes it mediocre.
Incidentally, look out for a cameo appearance by Scorsese photographing a young Ben Kingsley mid-way through the film.