Another visual treat from the maestro

Rating: 9/10 (30 August 2013)

Hugo (Asa Butterfield) is an orphan living in the walls of a train station, in 1930s Paris. He becomes embroiled in a mystery involving his dead father, an automaton, and the enigmatic Georges Melies (Ben Kingsley).
I'm not a big fan of 3D – in fact, I hate it. I'm yet to see a movie that does the format justice but, admittedly, Hugo comes pretty bloody close. What sets 'Hugo' apart from other 3D movies, and one of the reasons I enjoyed it, is that it's a 3D movie about 3D movies. It therefore allows the filmmakers artistic license, and makes the format more acceptable.
But that's what happens when Martin Scorsese makes a film – the man is a certified genius, who knows how to get the best out of what he's working with. We all know he can do it with the actors, we know he can do it with genres, now he does it with 3D. And the truth is that, as good as everything else about this movie is (and there's a lot of good), the best thing about this film is the visuals. From start to finish, 'Hugo' looks spectacular. The opening scene, as we see the camera 'zoom' through Paris to the intricacies of the train station is breathtaking, and it retains that high standard throughout.
It's also helped by the fact that the cast is full of incredible actors. From the young leads to the elder statesmen, everyone chips in with stellar performances. Asa Butterfield is a great choice for the lead actor, and Chloe Moretz does a very decent job with her English accent. That girl is gonna be a huge star when she's older, and will thoroughly deserve it. Not much needs to be said about Ben Kingsley and Christopher Lee and Ray Winstone and Helen McCrory, and all the other veterans. They're good, we know. Sacha Cohen is a revelation, though. He is fantastic as the Station Inspector.
'Hugo' deserved all the awards that it won – it's a fantastic film and I loved watching it. Scorsese doesn't make many bad films and, with this, he proves that he can make films for children too. And that 3D is actually bearable.