Hugo (2011)

Director: Martin Scorsese

Starring: Asa Butterfield, Chloë Grace Moretz, Christopher Lee, Ben Kingley

In 1931 Paris, an orphan living in the walls of a train station gets wrapped up in a mystery involving his late father and an automaton.

‘Hugo’ certainly is a cinematic experience from a visual point of view. Dazzling visual effects make almost every scene a masterpiece. The cinematography and photography is stunning. I enjoyed the subtle score, as well.

Unfortunately, the film wasn’t quite what I expected from a storytelling perspective. In fact, I found it rather boring, and thought the premise was of ‘special interest’ nature. Our hero is Hugo (Asa Butterfield), an orphan who lives at a train station. Here he meets Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz) and this serves as the film’s romance interest. A very young love interest, but nevertheless still the obligatory love interest.

Learning about film maker Georges Méliès – Isabelle’s godfather – Hugo is so intrigued with him and his film ‘A Trip to the Moon’ that he wants to revive Melies’ career after 30 years. A story about reviving a has-been director’s career does not make for interesting viewing (for me), and apart from the amazing visuals there really was nothing here that captivated me.

Despite receiving 253 award nominations, winning 61 including 5 Oscars (Best Cinematography, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, Best Art Direction, and – off course – Best Visual Effects), ‘Hugo’ was a box office failure. I guess the general audience also didn’t find the premise interesting enough…

Would I watch it again? No.