Movie: Hugo

• Director: Martin Scorsese
• Release Date: November 2011
• Writers: John Logan, Brian Selznick
• Run Time: 126
• Genre: Adventure, Drama, Family

Tagline: Hugo

Review: What Martin Scorcese has managed to do is add story dimensionality to a family film that has 3D technology. Some of the dimensions hes included which dont always make into Hollywood blockbusters are an imaginative and original concept, thematic unity and resonance and deft homage to film itself, in the story of Georges Melies, French film pioneer.

Saw the film in an advance screening and we were among the many there who were obviously not standard family film consumers. This being a Scorcese film is likely to bring lots of adults to Hugo and I would think many of them, like me, will feel the film stands up as entertainment for all age groups.

I especially enjoyed the resonance and intricacy of the theme of clocks, clockworks, animatronics and the ghost in the machine, our fear, in the post industrial age that perhaps we are just a rather complex machine, rather than a divine creation. This is all beautifully rendered cinematically. I doubt the little ones will be bewildered while older viewers can pick out levels and layers in the film.

Good fun and visually interesting throughout. The 3D is used in service of the story. I hope Hollywood is watching and notices that special effects are only special when they get the heart of the machine working, like Hugos little man.