I wasn't sure what this film was about when I heard about it and so I didn't give it much thought. A friend recommended this to me but didn't talk too much about what it was about. I didn't understand why until after watching this movie.
Part of the problem of telling what this movie is about is that this movie has many stories that sometimes intersect and sometimes just happen parallel to each other. The title character is a boy named Hugo (played by Asa Butterfield). After experiencing a terrible tragedy, Hugo lives alone in a train station and takes care of the clocks in the station making sure that they are running correctly and such. He has a knack for working with mechanical things which he learned both from his father (played by Jude Law) and his uncle (played by Ray Winstone). He also is a smart kid who is able to figure things out well. He secretly works on an automaton when he has spare time and tries very hard to avoid the attention of the Station Inspector (played by Sacha Baron Cohen).
The Station Inspector is a "broken man" in that he suffers from an old war wound in his knee that forces him to wear a brace. The Station Inspector is also a bit of a "follow the rules" type of person and he pays especial attention to children who wander around the station as he seems to enjoy turning orphans over to the orphanage. Fortunately for Hugo the Station Inspector is not the brightest bulb in the world although he means well and takes great pride in his work.
Hugo's life is changed when he gets caught stealing from the station toy maker Georges Melies. It starts with Georges spotting then confiscating a precious notebook that contains some unusual drawings in it. The notebook belonged to Hugo's father but Hugo doesn't reveal this to Georges. After Hugo frantically enlists the help of Georges' god daughter Isabelle (played by Chloe Grace Moretz) to retrieve the notebook from Georges, a strange and unexpected adventure unfolds that will involve all of the main characters and bring in some new characters along the way. The result of all of those lives intersecting sometimes has tragedy but overall is surprisingly wonderful.
After watching the film and seeing all of the detail that is woven into this story I finally understood why the previews and my friend weren't able to accurately describe what this movie is about exactly. I recall hearing at one time that this movie tells of a boy searching for his father. While that is true to an extent I wouldn't say that that is the plot of this story.
I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of well known actors that starred in this movie whether as main or side characters. They were all brilliant. My personal favorite would be Sacha Baron Cohen mostly because he played a type of character that he hasn't played before while still keeping his own flair to it. For anyone who thinks that Sacha Baron Cohen isn't a good actor and only plays the same character or variation of the same character, I would recommend this picture if only to give you a glance at a different side of a fairly well-known actor.
I did not know that this was a Martin Scorcese picture when I watched this movie. I'm glad that I didn't because in my personal experience I don't like the Scorcese pictures that I have seen so far. I know, I know. How dare I call myself a fan of movies if I don't like the great Martin Scorcese. Don't get me wrong. To say that the man is talented is generally considered an understatement at best. I'm not saying that his accolades aren't well deserved. I'm just saying that for some reason I haven't enjoyed the few other films of his that I have seen. The exception at present for me is Hugo. I thought that it was a wonderful movie. I thought that the cinematography was beautiful. I cared about all of the characters even the minor ones. I was curious and excited to see how this film would play out. When the film played out the way that it did I loved it.
I also wasn't surprised that the subject of old films needing to be preserved was included in this movie. One of the few things that I am aware about Mr. Scorcese is that near and dear to his heart is his firm belief that some of the old movies should be cherished and preserved and that it is a tragedy when old movies are carelessly discarded or simply ignored even. I must say that I couldn't agree more.
For without these old movies we wouldn't have been able to have what we have today. It is because those that came before took a chance on something new and different and put themselves out there sometimes spending all of their money just to share a vision with the world. Sometimes it didn't work out and sometimes it did. Also, without these old movies, we wouldn't be able to see the visions of the past. We can't really know exactly what film making was like in those days for the simple fact that that was then and things were so different then. While you can read about how things were and maybe see photographs, it's quite different to see the "moving pictures" with the "old" actors and sets and the look and how exciting it was to see an occasional colored portion of an old black and white picture.
So if you get a chance to watch this movie and you are the least bit curious, please indulge yourself.
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