Hugo Review

I just got back from seeing Hugo on November 29, 2011. I was very impressed with it. The movie was all about adventure and imagination, which are two things that every person should experience in some form or another, whether its in our dreams or road trips, etc. This movie in particular takes us on a journey to appreciate how movies are designed to take us out of reality and experience what we create in our minds. Now, before I get into some of the plot and characters, this reminded me of a movie I used to watch when I was younger with my brothers Jake and Justin. It was an animated movie called Little Nemo, and he always used his imagination and went on crazy adventures such as flying in a dirigible to new worlds.The film takes place in Paris in the 1930s, and Hugo Cabret, played brilliantly by Asa Butterfield, lives within the walls of the train station, fixing things and also trying to find a particular item in order to repair an autobaton (a robot) who is designed to send a message to Hugo from his father who is killed in a fire. Hugo always questions why he is alone, and he has many run-ins with the train conductor played by Sacha Baron Cohen (very different role than we're used to out of him) and the man that operate the toy stand (played by Ben Kinglsey). More on Ben a bit later on haha. I feel the standout of this movie is rising star Chloe Grace Moretz who plays Isabel (one of my personal favorite actresses over the past two years). She is an excellent actress at 14 years old and really brings forth alot of the magic through her dialogue and facial expressions much like she did in Let Me In. I am really hoping to watch her continue to ascend up the ladder. She is very talented. Actually, Asa Butterfield looks like Owen from Let Me In so that was pretty interesting as well. There is a key around her neck which happens to be what Hugo needs to wind up the autobaton. The autobaton is wound up and draws a picture that would spell out the rest of the direction of the film. From there we learn more about George Melies, renowned film maker (Ben Kingsley's true role), and wer discover how he became impressed with cinema while working as a magician. He enjoyed creating illusions for people and with film he could do this and help people escape harsh realities. I found the films very interesting and filled with creativity, even using technicolor which wasn't really something known until The Wizard of Oz. Martin Scorsese is amazing and even though some scenes can be slow, its still an incredible movie that actually even could be a semi-historical approach as to how film and movies came to be popular. He shows this through the depiction of one of the first movies ever created in 1895 where a train was just coming into a station (much like the train station is a major part of the movie) and the audience reacts as if the train is about to hit them. Melies was captivated by the realism of the shot and then we see Scorsese use it later in full technicolor in a different setting. The dream sequences that Hugo has are very interesting such as when he transforms into the autobaton or when he leads a train off a track through a window because he is stuck on the track. As I said, I loved how this presented how movies are an incredible journey that taps into our imagination and allows us to take adventures with the characters. In this movie, Hugo and Isabel have a real adventure putting the pieces together to discover who George Melies is, so we as the audience follow their adventure as they have theirs. I find things like that very interesting. Alot of the scenes were very impressive and once again Scorsese impresses me. I definitely give this a 5/5!! I really enjoyed this as a movie enthusiast and as somebody that enjoys following the adventures of the characters.