Hugo (2011)
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AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: 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.
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Cast
as Georges Méliès
as Station inspector
as Hugo Cabret
as Isabelle
as Uncle Claude
as Lisette
as Monsieur Labisse
as Mama Jeanne
as Rene Tabard
as Hugo's Father
as Madame Emilie
as Monsieur Frick
as Policeman
as Young Tabard
as Street Kid
as Django Reinhardt
as Theatre Manager
as Camera Technician
as Train Engineer
as Train Engineer Assistant
as Cafe Waitress
as Child at Café
as Child at Café
as Child at Café
as Arabian Knight
as Arabian Knight
as Arabian Knight
as Young Tabard's Brother
as Circus Barker
as Circus Barker
as Gendarme
as Gendarme
as Salvador Dali
as James Joyce
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Critic Reviews for Hugo
All Critics (215) | Top Critics (43) | Fresh (201) | Rotten (14) | DVD (3)
Being a hardcore cinephile (like Scorsese) might add a layer of enjoyment, but it certainly isn't a prerequisite for walking in the door. A sense of wonder, however, is.
Leave it to Martin Scorsese to use 3-D not as a gimmick, but as a means of drawing us into a unique and magical environment...
Scorsese transforms this innocent tale into an ardent love letter to the cinema and a moving plea for film preservation.
It might be curtains for celluloid, but Scorsese, a boyish 69, clearly isn't leaving the stage any time soon. He directs every film with the passion of his first. And it shows.
Thematic potency and cinematic virtuosity -- the production was designed by Dante Ferretti and photographed by Robert Richardson -- can't conceal a deadly inertness at the film's core.
For all the wizardry on display, Hugo often feels like a film about magic instead of a magical film...
Audience Reviews for Hugo
Let's be honest, it is disappointing to see a movie that wants to praise the magic of Cinema but whose 3D doesn't always work so well, and it feels like two different stories clumsily combined, with unnecessary subplots and a mediocre leading performance by Asa Butterfield.
Super Reviewer
There's a whole lot to love about "Hugo" but most of the time the beauty it strives to connect with a deep emotion, fails to do so. The main reason "Hugo" works is because its visuals are enchanting, it's based in the world of Melies, and it connects different elements of movie magic together to form a great story about magic in technology and film. Though the film is very beautiful and has colorful characters, including Ben Kingsley as Melies and Sacha Baron Cohen as a squeaky legged patrolman, there's no emotional response to the absolute magic. The lead character is played by Asa Butterfield, who gives little to no emotion when delivering his lines, while his backstory, and how he gets himself involved in working the clocks in the train station, is full of holes. The film is strangely paced and the plot is oddly structured. Though it's definitely the pinnacle of ooh and aah filmmaking (based on the greatness of Melies) it lacks the chemistry of the thing it is inspired by.
Super Reviewer
Yes, a tip of the hat to the origins of filmic storytelling, and yes, made by one of the acknowledged best in the field, but lacking the essential heart connection it reaches for, misses it but only so much ... and that's unfortunate. Nonetheless a good work, with competent professionals all over the place, but when Sasha Baron Cohen steals your film, and as only a minor character, you should know you've got a communications mix up.
Super Reviewer
Hugo Quotes
| Theatre Manager: | What are you two rats doing in here? *throws Hugo and Isabelle outside* Better not see you in here again! |
| Theatre Manager: | What are you two rats doing in here? [throws Hugo and Isabelle outside] Better not see you in here again! |
| Isabelle: | This might be an adventure, and I've never had one before - outside of books, at least. |
| Station inspector: | We'll let the orphanage deal with you |
| Hugo Cabret: | No! I don't belong there! |
| Station inspector: | Where do you belong then? A child has to belong somewhere! |
| Hugo Cabret: | Listen to me! Please, please listen to me! You don't understand! You have to let me go. I don't understand why, why father died, why I'm alone. It is my only chance.. to work (looks at the Inspector's artificial leg). You should understand! |