The universe is a machine that has no extra parts

Rating: 9/10 (14 June 2014)

"Hugo," the story of a young boy, Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) who lived in the Paris train station and kept the clocks running. He got acquainted with a toy store owner there, Georges Melies (Ben Kingsley) and discovered the man's history as a famous movie maker whose career had been derailed by the War. Melies in real life was famous for his technical advances in movie making, and the story line is the recovery and celebration of his work. Hugo is dogged by the station inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen) whose main job seems to be apprehending orphans and sending them to the orphanage. He was also injured in the war and has a prosthesis in place of his left leg, which often locks and leaves him unable to move. One of Melies' inventions was an automaton that was able to write and draw. Hugo's father finds the automaton in disrepair and brings it home, and after his death in a fire, Hugo finds himself with the task of completing the repair. He does this and needs only a heart-shaped key to unlock the mechanism so that it will work. This he finds on a chain around the neck of Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz) the god-daughter of Melies and his wife Mama Jeanne (Helen McRory) whom Hugo meets when he follows Melies home to retrieve the notebook that came with the automaton that Melies had taken. The mechanical machinations – the train station, the clocks, the automaton, the inspector's leg – become a metaphor for the universe – it's a big machine, and there are no extra pieces. Every one of us has a purpose. And they can all be made to work! The movie ends with a dance scene at the party after the reclamation of Melies' work. The heart-shaped key is required to set the whole machine in motion.