1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die- Hugo

#1146- Hugo (2011)
Starring: Asa Butterfeld, Ben Kingsley, Chloë Grace Moretz
Directed by: Martin Scorsese


Plot Summary: After his father perishes in a museum fire, 12-year-old Hugo Cabret is taken in by his alcoholic uncle Claude and is taught how to maintain the clocks at the Paris Gare Montparnasse railway station. Living in the walls of the station, Hugo lives day by day stealing parts to an automaton he and his father were working on. He is caught by a toymaker, who steals his notes on the automaton and threatens to turn Hugo in as a thief. With the help of the toymaker's goddaughter, Isabelle, Hugo embarks on a journey that will connect him, his love of movies and the automaton to the mysterious toymaker.


I remember a few years ago when EVERYONE was telling me I had to see Hugo. Directed by one of my favorite modern directors, Martin Scorsese, I had heard it was the feel good movie of the 2011 holiday season. When I saw the trailers for it I remember saying, "The director of Goodfellas, Shutter Island, and The Departed made THIS? This looks like a generic family film. What could possibly be so great about this?" And when I finally watched it, I threw my previous statements out the window. Hugo was more than some generic family film for the holidays. It served as a study of some great characters, submerged the audience in an environment with great visuals and a relatable setting, and gave a fitting tribute to the silent era in a way that many felt The Artist, a film that came out around the same time, was unable to do as well as Hugo did.

Hugo Cabret and Isabelle are played by two of the best child stars out there today, Asa Butterfield and Chloë Grace Moretz respectively. When you think about child actors in films, there are only a few that are able to captivate the audience, instead of annoying them. Butterfield and Moretz have both entertained me in other films (Butterfield in Ender's Game and Moretz in Carrie and the Kick-Ass films) and are still able to transform into likable child characters in Hugo as well. The toughest job these two had as main characters was commanding the screen already filled with a large ensemble cast. I think Butterfield and Moretz were able to not only do a good job for the film, but at the time of the film's release were also able to cement their status as future stars of the big screen.

The following paragraph contains a massive *SPOILER* so proceed with caution. If you don't wanna know, go past the first photo to the next paragraph.

Ben Kingsley plays the toymaker, who is also Isabelle's godfather Papa Georges. Kingsley offers many emotions for Georges towards certain characters. For example, he is very bitter and tough towards Hugo, as he sees him as a common thief. Yet we later see him being protective and strict with his goddaughter Isabelle. All of his motivations are approached with depth and mystery. The audience is left with no answers for half the movie and wants to know what Georges's reasons are. It is later revealed that Papa Georges is famous silent filmmaker Georges Méliès, director of A Trip to the Moon. Wanting to escape his previous life as a film director, the audience sees Georges as a tragic character and that there can be a fun and loving person in there, but it is going to take the right amount of convincing for him to overcome his fears and embrace his life as an innovator of the film industry.

Aside from the main characters, Hugo is filled with a tremendous supporting cast. One of my favorite characters is Inspector Gustave, played by Sacha Baron Cohen, who is able to have the audience love and hate him in various scenes throughout the film. There's also Hugo's father, played by Jude Law, who is very believable as a kind and loving father. There are also memorable appearances from Christopher Lee, Emily Mortimer, Ray Winstone, Michael Stuhlbarg and enough Harry Potter cast members for it to be merely coincidental. It's the type of large cast environment you would expect from a big-budget film directed by Martin Scorsese, and each performance is handled wonderfully.

One of the more important elements to talk about is the film's tribute to the silent era. Dealing with the filmmaking endeavors of Georges Méliès, the film also offers an in-depth retrospective of silent movies as a whole, thanks to Hugo's love and appreciation of movies. Through some montage scenes, the audience is shown various clips from many of the silent era's most memorable films (including ones I've reviewed on here, such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The Great Train Robbery, and of course, A Trip to the Moon) and even shown some of the techniques used at the time to create cinematic magic that modern audiences could be surprised about. Although it was not a silent film, Hugo is a great tribute to one of the most influential eras in film history and is brought to life and given the right amount of heart thanks to the visionary style of one of the modern era's greatest directors.

Hugo came out during the holiday season in 2011 and I think it serves as a great transition into my next set of reviews where I will cover some of the movies on this list that can be celebrated during this Christmas season. Some will be conventional, and some will definitely need an open mind, but trust me when I say they can all have an element of the holidays in them. With Hugo, the holiday element is in its pure environment. The snowy atmosphere and heartwarming charm this movie has to offer creates a warm and whimsical mood for the audience that is perfect for the holidays.


Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Here's a film made by one of our greatest filmmakers and features a stellar cast of characters. If that's not incentive enough to enjoy Hugo, it also offers a great appreciation for the silent era. This is definitely one I recommend everyone seeing once, and is heartwarming enough for me to say it is worth owning in your collection.

Comment below to share your thoughts on the movie or to discuss a topic that I left out of my review

Hugo and movie images are copyrighted by Paramount Pictures