Could have so much better

Rating: 8/10 (7 January 2014)

I remember seeing the trailer for Hugo and being very interested. It did look like a mystical adventure where fantastic magical things happen. What does happen is a very visually rich movie. Really great visuals! It is really worth watching just for that. Scorsese is a master and to be fair he kept the movie very close to the book. If anything, he IMPROVED on the book. He actually brought the book to a higher level. So for viewers to complain about the depth of characters is like complaining that a movie made from "Good Night Moon" didn't have good character development. That being the case it still could have been better but it would have meant deviating from the original story.
Personally, I would have like to see more about Hugo's loneliness and Gustav(the station inspector)'s loneliness and similarity to Hugo. Hugo could have very easily ended up with the sad mean life that Gustav had. And Sacha Baron Cohen as Gustav shows in this movie that he capable of being serious and threatening as well as vulnerable.
The movie is sprinkled with references to cultural figures of the early 20th century such as James Joyce sitting in a café in the train station and Django Reinhardt playing at the same café. Not to mention the brief history of cinema that is used as part of the plot.
You can find this information elsewhere, but the train accident that is part of Hugo's dream really did occur at a different time at the Paris station. As well as other events such as Georges Milies working in a toy store at the station in his later years.
Overall, I am pleased with this movie and would watch it again.
See if you can find the cameo by Scorsese.