Movies

When I heard that Martin Scorsese was directing a 3D children's film, I wondered: what's next? David Lynch directing a romantic comedy? But the end result, Hugo, is a mostly successful departure from Scorsese's usual world of tough cinema.

This visually beautiful film takes us to 1930s Paris, where wide-eyed Hugo (Asa Butterfield) and his caring, clockmaker father (Jude Law), are mesmerised by hopes of restoring a defunct automaton machine. Following the tragic death of Hugo's father, the young orphan is transferred to the care of his disinterested, alcoholic uncle, a vagrant charged with the responsibility of winding the clocks of a Parisian train station.

Hugo slumps into a hard life of poverty, surviving by living in the walls of the station and feeding off the scraps of commuters and station vendors, while avoiding the watchful eye of the station inspector (a hilariously bumbling Sacha Baron Cohen). Hope of a better life transpires from a mystery requiring Hugo and his friend Isabelle (Chloe Moretz) to explore the origins of the automaton and its connection to Isabelle's toy-making godfather (Ben Kingsley).

Hugo reminds us that cinema need not treat children like idiots – instead, Scorsese's film is intelligent, original and romantic. While there is darkness in the film, Hugo also reminds us that while we are all a little broken and scared, beauty in this world still abounds.

No-one could be faulted for their acting, but it's Moretz who steals the show, exhibiting yet again a depth beyond her years.

I wonder, however, whether Hugo attempts to achieve too much. Several stories beyond the main mystery are explored in the film, but sit uncomfortably outside the main narrative rather than being weaved within. That (small) criticism aside, Scorsese's look at the history of cinema is impressively shot, reminiscent of Baz Luhrmann's The Red Curtain Trilogy.

Hugo is an exuberant and enchanting family film that may just be this generation's Willy Wonka.