Hugo 3D - 4 smiles

Martin Scorsese’s latest film, “Hugo,” is a richly illustrated history lesson in cinema history wrapped around the story of an orphaned boy and is an example of one of the best uses of 3D since Avatar. Based on Brian Selznick’s 2007 illustrated children’s novel, the story takes place inside Paris’ Montparnasse train station in 1931, where 12-year-old Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield), the orphaned son of a clockmaker (Jude Law), lives inside the station’s giant clock, which he also maintains since his alcoholic uncle abandoned him. An early scene takes us on a journey inside the clock, with its maze-like corridors, ladders and gears. This gives us an introduction to Scorsese’s spectacular use of 3D as the entire screen opens up to various moving parts. The station acts like an indoor village, with Hugo darting among the merchants and passengers, pilfering a croissant or bottle of milk. Hugo is also trying to repair an automaton his father was working on at the time of his death. To accomplish this, Hugo must steal gears and other parts from a shopkeeper who turns out to be the legendary director Georges Méliès (Ben Kingsley), fallen on hard times. In Méliès ‘ goddaughter, Isabelle (Chloë Grace Moretz), Hugo finds an ally. But he also has an enemy, the orphan-hating Station Inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen), who seeks to catch Hugo and send him to an orphanage

In “Hugo,” Scorsese plays homage on several occasions to one of the earliest films, the Lumiere Brothers’ Arrival of a Train at the Station. Scorsese also tells us a lot about Méliès, one of the pioneers of early film technique and special effects. We learn that between 1896 and 1914, Méliès directed more than 530 films but, in order to save himself from bankruptcy, he was forced to sell the film stock that was eventually melted down and turned into shoe heels. Only one print of one of his productions, a 1920’s A Trip to the Moon, exists and he views his life as a failure. By telling Méliès’ story, Scorsese has not only an opportunity to explore the inventiveness of early filmmaking, but also a way to incorporate a message about the importance of preserving films for posterity. “Hugo” is a smart movie with an emotional core and deserves to be seen in 3D. 11/27/11