newjerseynewsroom.com

BY JOHN SOLTES

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

MOVIE REVIEW

Photo credit: Jaap Buitendijk / Paramount Pictures

This young whippersnapper by the name of Martin Scorsese has created a delightful family film that deserves a tremendous audience and award recognition at the end of the year. You may have heard of this director; he did some work on such film as "Goodfellas," "Casino," "Raging Bull," "The Departed" and "The Aviator."

All kidding aside, how this prolific filmmaker goes from his self-built style of hyper-realized storytelling with flashy editing and cathartic violence to a touching fable about the birth of the filmmaking industry is a feat unto itself. Hugo is a wondrous achievement that relies on the imagination of the viewer. It delivers a magical landscape and never fails to stun with its Dickensian plot and cast of perpetually-enjoyable supporting characters.

In 1930s Paris, Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield in an exquisite performance) is down on his luck. His father (Jude Law, in flashbacks) is dead and he's left all alone in the voluminous hall of the capital city's train station. Keeping him company are the many clocks around the building that his father and uncle used to keep ticking-ticking-ticking away.

Among all the machinery, Hugo has found a solitary friend. The problem is that he's not exactly human and never talks back. An automaton, which looks like a child-size robot, was his father's final challenge. He found the Metropolis-looking contraption in a museum that had no use for its design or structure. So the Cabrets inherited the little man, but all of their tinkering couldn't bring him to life. They needed a special key in the shape of a heart to complete the transformation and see what secrets the automaton held.

With his father gone and the local constable (Sacha Baron Cohen) constantly on his tail, Hugo needs to live the life of a bandit on the run. He travels from clock to clock in the train station like Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, always just out of sight and two steps ahead of his enemies.

The one person he doesn't evade is Georges Méliès (Ben Kingsley), a once-great cinematic pioneer who left the industry and wiles away his old age as a toy seller in the train station. For film buffs, the name of Méliès should sound familiar. The man was a true film auteur, creating some of the earliest stories for the silver screen, including the celebrated "A Trip to the Moon."

When Méliès catches Hugo trying to steal from his stall, he snatches the child's journal, which has drawings and designs of the automaton. The pencil sketches bring back a flood of memories for the former film director. Maybe this robot had a previous life? Maybe Méliès knows a thing or two about the secret heart key?