Nice family friendly entertainment and nothing more

Rating: 7/10 (26 May 2013)

I like "Hugo" . I like it much more than "The Artist " which for me is incredibly dull , boring , heartless and soulless movie. At least you can feel some heart in Scorsese movie. Still , I don't think "Hugo" deserves such high rating. Coming from master of cinema this is just a decent movie.
From technical point of view the movie deserved all the Oscar awards and nominees . "Hugo" looks good , even if the CGI is too visible sometimes. You can find many more or less subtle references to old movies ( For example "Safety last" – it's even on the movie poster) . The acting is good . Only Sacha Baron Cohen seems to be miscast . He is rather annoying instead of funny . Not to mention he can't give his character true depth that is required in the final of the movie.
The biggest problem however is the screenplay. This movie is nothing by generic family friendly movie. It's not too deep. It's ABSOLUTELY predictable . There are no surprises or twists. It was hard for me as an adult to watch this movie , because every message is told loud and straight to the audience face ( The broken machines are like people who lost their dreams etc. etc. ). I think Scorsese made a movie for kids not adults. This is not necessarily a bad thing , but Scorsese lacks the sensibility of Steven Spielberg to direct this kind of movie. The movie didn't left me cold , I felt something , but I wasn't in tears or anything like that.
For a movie about movie magic there isn't too much magic here. I give it 7/10.