A classic unlike Scorcese's earlier work

Rating: 8/10 (14 October 2012)

How often do you see Sacha Baron Cohen and Ben Kingsley in the same movie. It happened to me in a single week. How often do you see Chloe Grace Mortez play her age. Only once and this was it. And finally, what about Martin Scorcese doing a children based movie that too a 3D one. Now that I have established it is a crazy combination packaged as a classical movie, how was it implemented is the final question. Awesome!! Hugo (Asa Butterfield) is an orphan who is covering for his uncle keying clocks at a railway station in Paris. He is passionate about a Droid the last thing he and his father (played by Jude Law) worked on. Hugo meets and makes friends with Isabelle (Chloe) who is being raised by George (Kingsley) and his wife and he has a mysterious past related both to movies and the Droid living a sad life. Putting into this mix is the Station Master (Cohen) with a limp who is by the book and determined to catch Hugo and also is in love with Lisette.
It is an epic story spanning decades of achievements, determination, hope and innocence. Though not watched in the format, 3D does not seem forced. Screenplay is neat, background score majestic, cinematography and editing are done in a way the filmmaker knew what he wanted. Chloe does a tremendous job in pushing innocence and maturity to Hugo's character that complements well to the story.
A classic unlike Scorcese's earlier work