Hugo

Rating: 7/10 (28 November 2011)

Hugo is based upon the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. The film is a period piece film, taking place in 1930's Paris, France. Fans of director Martin Scorsese may also want to note that this is his first time directing a family film and also one in 3D. The film is full of enchantment and lots to behold and wonder at, so I feel that if I was to give too much away it would spoil the film, so I suggest you look elsewhere for a plot synopsis, or even watch the film's trailer. I found a lot to like about Hugo, but there were also a few things that I had problems with as well. First the good. The film looks great. Normally, I am not a fan of films in 3D because I find that they look fake and it just feels ever so much more like you are watching a computer program, or video game and does not feel real in any way. The visual effects in Hugo are all extremely well done and they look believable and give the film a great look. Every so often a character's face may look a bit askew when trying to capture it with the 3D background, but that does not happen too often and for the most part it looks great. The whole film looks great from it's visual effects, costumes, set decorations, make up and cinematography. It's a wonderfully authentic and dazzling piece of eye candy that also looks and feels of 1930's Paris, France and has all the charm and beauty of the city as well. The acting here is all very good from everybody. The whole cast is very talented and they all do a great job in their individual roles. The adults are good and the kids do a great job here as well. The story to the film is very original and for me I was quite intrigued as to how and where the film would go and I was pleasantly surprised. It has a little bit of everything from fantasy, mystery, comedy, science fiction and is even an open love letter to a certain art form that if you see the film you will know what I mean and I think that reason alone is why film lover Martin Scorsese made the film in the first place. The film enchants with it's visuals, keeps us interested with it's adventuresome and likable characters and the different magical and mysterious things going on. The film is marketed as a family film, but I can definitely see adults appreciating the film more than children, but older children may find something here to like as well. Now on to the few things I had a problem with during the film. I thoroughly enjoyed myself during the duration of the film, but there were times when the film did feel a bit long. It's not an overly long movie at two hours and seven minutes, but there are certain scenes that do drag on a bit and after the film is over it somehow feels like the film was much longer than the running time I just provided you with, even though it is not. Also, I did like all of the characters in the film, but I felt that there were too many subplots going on during the film that took away from the main story. It's not that they were not interesting, but they didn't have all that much to do with the central theme, or message of the story and ultimately just made the film longer and this is in parts where it began to drag, so I would have to say some of the additional stories were a little unnecessary. Had they been trimmed down, or edited a bit, or maybe found a different way to incorporate them into the film it could have worked, but as it is they don't. Those are probably my only problems with the film and while I still liked it a fair bit and admired a lot about it, I can not honestly say that it is a great film, or one of the year's best. Still there is a lot here that I think movie lovers will admire and get a lot out of, so I still recommend Hugo and it is a nice feel good film, especially appropriate now in time for the holidays, so I would still recommend it, but for me it had enough flaws to prevent it from being a masterpiece, but it is still definitely worth seeing even if you have to pay a little extra for the accompanying 3D glasses.