Gorgeous Sets, Amazing Technology, and The Magic...

Rating: 3/10 (22 November 2011)

There's no denying that 3D has almost never looked this sharp, but there are plenty of films out there where it doesn't call this much attention to itself; it enhances the cosmetic aspect of the film; it hardly does much for the weak adaptation of the novel. In "Hugo", as it is the case in many of the of Scorcese's films, technological improvements throw his film out of balance, and this is the beginning of the many flaws in this project.
The art direction and costumes are breathtaking, immersing the audience in the right period, though it has barely any of the charm and magic that made another film set Paris this year so successful. In that other film, all the scenes in the various periods are evocative and involving. Here the experience is as cold as a disorganized display in the best museum. It doesn't have much impact on its audience. Some of the scenery could be an exact imitation of the original inspiration. There were a couple of times when the visuals blend perfectly with a few of the clips that are integrated in the film.
The problem is the almost absolute lack of warmth in the various relationships between many of the main characters and the way they are directed in this movie. The young man at the heart of the film feels at time as another piece of furniture in the set. When I walked into the theater, many of the people weren't sure if we were watching an animated film or a live action production because they said the actors looked funny. The feel feels so cold in its adaptation of a very interesting literary piece, a book so charming with its integration of words and its simple black and white adaptation. To be fair it is hard to look away because it is so gorgeous, but at the same time, the disappointment hits hard because this is a film that should relies heavily in the sense of wonder usually associated with children's films and/or young performers. Earlier this year "Super 8" and "Real Steel" benefited immensely from the outstanding work and charisma of their young performers. The Elle Fanning scene in "Super 8" puts everything in this film to shame. Where both of those films project warmth, innocence,and a great variety of emotions, "Hugo" never becomes multidimensional, a big irony, considering its best quality is the nearly perfect 3-D visuals. To make things worse, two other projects involving literacy and story telling, made by Cuaron ("A Little Princess") and Petersen ("The Never Ending Story") have shown that its is possible to blend reality and magic, with the help of the right approach and the appropriate performances.
In addition to the lack of emotional magic on the screen, the pacing in "Hugo" is so slow it borders on catatonic, dragging for most of its two hours. We finally arrive to the last third of the film, a place where the film finally comes alive; suddenly, Scorcese pours his heart in the film, using original film clips and beautiful recreations of the original sources from various classic films of early French cinema. These are breathtaking, as they play, one after another, showing us the sense of wonder original audiences must have experienced. Finally, one is almost overpowered as Toto was in several scenes of "Cinema Paradiso" as the director viewed the treasured collage in the final scene of that movie, or as the young protagonist of "A Little Princess" told her magic stories set in exotic India, infused with her own imagination and simple stop motion work. Petersen went even further with the seamless blend of the young man, as he becomes a part of the literary experience, and one realized how powerful the magic in the written word can be. Very little of that exists in "Hugo", a shiny package, with a rock for a heart.
Scorcese has done much for the preservation of cinema, and the original source of this film lent itself to a cinematic production to support his cause, but just like Spielberg chooses other people to direct some of his projects, much more could have been achieved by handing this property to a more suited director, a person who understands innocence, wonder, how important it is to get inside the hearts of people, opposed to working with projects where the main characters are notorious for not having one. Rarely Scorcese has shown in his movies any sort of affection for or between his characters, "Alice doesn't live here anymore" is a rare exception, and children in it are a bit on the precocious side. Come to think about it, Law showed much more emotion in "A.I." as he interacted with the marvelous Osment, and both of them were playing automatons.
A big disappointment.