Movie: "Hugo" (2011) 3D

[Bob Pr.]

"Hugo" (2011) 3D 127 min. PG Genres: Adventure, Drama, Family, Fantasy, Mystery,
Martin Scorsese, Director. Based on the book: "The Invention of Hugo Cabret"
Stars: Ben Kingsley, Jude Law, Sacha Baron Cohen, many others.
Plot: 12-year old Hugo was helping his father rebuild an automaton/robot originally made by Georges Méliès, the giant of late 19th/early 20th century film making. After his father's death in a fire, Hugo tries to complete the repair, all while secretly living in the clock works of the 1920s Paris railway station. After many thrills, there's a satisfying but surprising ending.
IMDB: 8.6 of 10 stars (only 4k votes @ this date) IMDb - Hugo (2011)
Rotten Tomatoes: 94% of critics vote ripe "Hugo is an extravagant, elegant fantasy with an innocence lacking in many modern kids' movies, and one that emanates an unabashed love for the magic of cinema." Hugo - Rotten Tomatoes
Roger Ebert: 4 of 4 stars. Hugo :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews
Trailer: Hugo Trailer (No. 2) - IMDb

"Hugo" (IMO) was made to be viewable at 2 different levels:

At face level, the thrilling narrative of (fictional) young Hugo Cabret's attempt to complete the automaton/robot his father was working on and how that brings his life and that of (real person) Georges Méliès, the giant of early movie-making, into more and more contact with each other.

At a deeper level, "Hugo" is Scorsese's homage and paeans to Méliès (bits of many of his restored films are shown) and to all of movie-making. Wikipedia's article on Méliès Georges Méliès - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia helps define where Scorsese's version is surprisingly true to life and the few places it isn't. For those familiar with movies across the past century, "Hugo" is filled with references to their power plus reminisences of bygone actors and scenes. E.g., several bits hint at the romantic boy-girl aspect of movies: will the station master & flower girl get together? In another, the man is a lookalike double of S.Z. ("Cuddles") Sakall who played similar bit parts in many '40s-'50s movies. In yet another, Hugo reprises Harold Lloyd's hanging on the hand of a clock far above a street. Etc., etc. At its deeper level, "Hugo" is Scorsese's reminder of how important motion pictures have become in our lives.

My rating: 8.5 of 10.

[Retriever Mama]

I just saw this last night and while I thought the story was sweet...I found it to be a giant advertisement for the film preservation society that Scorcese is a prominent member of. It was also about a 1/2 hour too long. And, apparently everyone in Paris speaks English with a British accent. Annoyed the living crap out of me.

And the automaton that is the centerpiece of story...creepy.