HUGO

The movie Hugo has been marketed as some sort of fantasy film for the whole family.  But I can’t see how any kid could be truly entertained by this film.  Boring is the word that comes to mind when I think of it, and I’m an adult; imagine how bored a young child would be trying to get through such a long dragged out movie which takes place in a train station.
It’s about a child whose father has passed away and now his drunk uncle who keeps the clocks running in a train station has taken custody of him.  The uncle is always passed out and never there for him so the kid just runs around the station all day changing clocks and trying to steal food.  He gets caught stealing by an old man who works at one of the stores in the station.  That old man then takes something from him and eventually makes him work at the store in order to get it back.  The boy becomes friends with the man’s goddaughter and eventually learns some secret things about him, all while trying to avoid the train station inspector who knows that he’s a thief.  Sacha Baron Cohen, who’s known to most people for playing the characters Borat and Bruno, as the inspector is the only slightly interesting person in the movie.  That still doesn’t make the movie any less dull though.  I’m getting pretty bored just describing it.
Anyway, the film then becomes this sermon on the wonders of filmmaking and how movies began in the first place.  Most people have already seen early film footage and have a pretty basic idea of how they were made, so it’s no big revelation to see.  Even to those who may not have any idea of what early filmmaking was like, it may still come off rather bland and unexciting to watch.  It’s rather strange how a movie about a child trying to survive in a train station without his father morphs into a history of filmmaking.  I imagine any kid who was looking forward to seeing a fantasy adventure (as the commercials seem to imply) is going to be pretty bummed out to watch film reels from the early 1900’s.  As someone who loves movies and reviews them, I sure was.  It didn’t help matters that it’s yet another movie shot in 3D, especially since there aren’t too many scenes where things are jumping out at you or that would need the technology anyway.  There wasn’t much to be enhanced.  It’s not like watching Avatar where you’re discovering a whole new world.  You’re just watching the ongoings inside an old train station.  Most critics seem to like this movie and I believe it’s only because it’s made by Martin Scorsese who is considered one of the greatest directors of all time.  So I think they feel obliged to find reasons to appreciate the film or hail it as something original.  But it’s really just a plain old boring movie like many others.  Scorsese should stick to the gangster movies he’s best known for.  Leave the kids alone.