Fantastic movie...if you're not a kid.

Rating: 8/10 (7 September 2013)

Hugo is dubbed as a family/kids movie, but after seeing it, I believe any child watching it would find it boring and uninteresting. This is a two hour movie, which is a long time to hold any youngster's attention, and Hugo is very slow-paced, dramatic, and adult-themed in my mind. Although appropriate for children, I believe the adults will be the ones getting the entertainment out of Hugo.
That being said, Hugo is a wonderful movie. Heartfelt, inspiring, and uplifting, not to mention visually stunning. It tells the story of Hugo, a boy who is orphaned when his father dies, and ends up living in the walls of a train station and trying to repair a mechanical man that his father left behind in hopes of getting a message from him. He meets Isabelle and her godparents, and finds out there's more to them than meets the eye.
This is the first time I've seen Sacha Baron Cohen in a movie that is not raunchy and crude like Borat and The Dictator. He is sort of the comic relief of this movie, but his acting is very good as the station inspector. As always, Chloe Moretz is perfect in her role as Isabelle, and I must say that her accent was very convincing. Asa Butterfield does an OK job as Hugo, but doesn't stand out as excellent.
Overall, a movie with wonderful visual effects, and a very inspiring story. Kid friendly? Not really. There are a few parts that kids would like, but mostly adult-oriented. Also, I believe they could have cut this down to about 90 minutes and gotten about the same result. It does get a little tiresome.