Spent more time looking at my watch than looking at the screen.

Rating: Null/10 (30 December 2011)

I went to go see this movie with my mother, after reading several good reviews. I felt completely ripped off.
First of all, I had to pay almost double for the tickets, as it was showing in 3D. This feels like a complete scam, because the 3D adds absolutely nothing to the movie. I would have rather watched it in 2D, since I wouldn't have to wear the doofy glasses.
The movie starts out with a wide view of Paris, which is funny, because the entire movie is in English. There is not even a single character that has a French accent. An English film set in Paris is borderline offensive, if you ask me, and is the first reason why I felt insulted by the film. Did Martin Scorcese not respect his audience enough to be able to read subtitles? Watching characters speak English and then pronounce French names and cities felt silly and slightly offensive.
Another major problem with the film is that there is not a single solid performance out of any of the characters. The actor playing Hugo was visibly shaking throughout the entire movie, and did not sound convincing at any point in the film. Chloë Grace Moretz's performance was the worst of the film. Every time she spoke she talked I wanted to leave the theater, because her tone sounded so mushy and overly-emotional. She also had an expression of exaggerated excitement throughout every scene that felt very unnatural.
I can almost excuse the actors' performances, however, because the dialogue was god awful. I felt like I was supposed to be laughing at the absurdity of some of their lines, for example, Hugo often goes on stunningly dull tangents where he says things like "Maybe I like to fix things, because I feel that everything has a purpose. If everything has a purpose, that means I have a purpose. My purpose is to fix this machine, and to find out what my father's last message was. I must fix this machine." Honestly, a four year old could have written a more interesting script.
This film is incredibly boring, mostly because it's plot is set at a crawling speed. Something will happen, and then it will take the characters 30 minutes to stop talking about it. I also felt that many scenes were added just to take up time. For example, when Hugo is running from the inspector with the automaton. This scene is nearly 10 minutes long, and adds absolutely nothing to the film.
Do not waste your life by sitting through this movie.