Featured Audience Ratings

• Louis R

  
  Visually it's good, but even then (dare I say it) a little indulgent. The aggressively quaint story, acting, generically british accents and general schmaltz overwhelm the whole affair. I mean, yes, it is a 'love letter to the cinema' but in that case its sloppily,… More
  Visually it's good, but even then (dare I say it) a little indulgent. The aggressively quaint story, acting, generically british accents and general schmaltz overwhelm the whole affair. I mean, yes, it is a 'love letter to the cinema' but in that case its sloppily, although earnestly, written. The Artist is an equally reverent and sincere homage but so much more successful, and entertaining.

• Wahida K

  
  Beautifull Movie.

• Cynthia S

  
  Well done. Enjoyable. Imaginative. Enchanting. Some say that this movie is slow..well it is. This is a movie you have to invest yourself into. This is a movie for movie lovers, not for those who simply have a passing interest and enjoy a flick every now and then. The story is… More
  Well done. Enjoyable. Imaginative. Enchanting. Some say that this movie is slow..well it is. This is a movie you have to invest yourself into. This is a movie for movie lovers, not for those who simply have a passing interest and enjoy a flick every now and then. The story is beautiful, and the cinematography was incredible. The two young leads were wonderful. Scorsese has great talent, and it shows here...

• Bentley L

  
  Brian Selznick's award-winning novel becomes an award-winning film by award-winning director Martin Scorcese. Hugo is one of the best family movies in recent years and maybe one of the best family movies ever. It's beautifully crafted and full of eye candy. It's also a… More
  Brian Selznick's award-winning novel becomes an award-winning film by award-winning director Martin Scorcese. Hugo is one of the best family movies in recent years and maybe one of the best family movies ever. It's beautifully crafted and full of eye candy. It's also a loyal adaptation of a wonderful novel. The film follows Hugo Cabret, an orphaned boy who lives within the walls of a train station in Paris. Hugo possesses an automaton that his father found in a museum while he worked there. However, this automaton is full of secrets. Hugo befriends Isabella and the two set out to unravel its secrets and it will impact both of their lives. The plot to Hugo is pretty simple and it's executed very well. Martin Scorcese knows how to draw you into the story. The film starts with a cold opening. The tile isn't revealed until fifteen minutes in. There is beautiful cinematography and camera work. I love how the camera swept through the train station. The dialogue doesn't kick until a few minutes. We are also introduced to the visual look of the film and I loved it. It was like something out of a dream. For a family film, it's rather long. But the film paces well. It takes it's time, the characters are well developed, and the story keeps you interested. Scorcese's direction is higly impressive. I love his camera work in the film and the cinematography in this film is beautiful. He sure knows how to direct a film. He's also very good with actors. If you can't act, then I guess you can't be in a Scorcese flick. John Logan's screenplay is well written. There is a lot of good dialogue in this film. It's stays true to Brian Selznick's novel but there are some changes. They are some side characters that weren't featured in the novel and they make bigger characters out of the Station Inspector and the librarian. Aside from that, the film was true to the source material. Hugo has a lot of good performances. There is not one weak actor in the film. The title role is played by Asa Butterfield and he is one fine actor. For a young actor, he's very good. He totally got into his character and I could tell he was having a good time playing Hugo. I enjoy watching Chloe Moretz and I think she will have a long career. She is an impressive teen actress. And a cute one. Her performance as Isabella was very good but I did find her French accent to be a little cheesy. Other than that, the two young actors put on fine performances. I loved seeing them interact with the world around them. The world built in this film is a joy to watch. I hope the two go on to make more good movies. Ben Kingsley is great in his supporting role as Papa Georges. Kingsley always impresses and he did so in this film. I like how his character evolved over the film. I enjoyed Helen McCrory as Mama Jeanne and Jude Law did well in his small role. Sacha Baron Cohen is my favorite of the supporting cast. He plays the Station Inspector and he is very enjoyable and fun to watch. He's also very funny. Christopher Lee is awesome, right? He plays The Librarian. Lee has an awesome voice and is a great actor and he shines in his minor role. I liked the side characters they added like the lady who sells flowers, who's also the Station Inspector's love interest, the lady in the café as well as her love interest. I don't think they were in the book but they were nice touches. Hugo pays tribute to silent films and that is one of the great things about this film. The history of cinema plays a big part in the film and you learn a lot about it. You also get to see how people perceived cinema back then. Also, the score was great. Howard Shore's score perfectly fit the film's atmosphere. There is also a bit of French music in there that is really good. Hugo is a wonderful family film. The visual style is really cool, the writing and acting are impressive, and the story is great. This is a highly memorable film and I've watched it twice by now. I wish I could've seen it in 3D but it looks great on Blu-ray. Martin Scorcese has crafted a great family film that will entertain children, adults, and film buffs. It's also a great love letter to cinema. It made me thankful for the movies. What would the world be without them? If you love innocent family films, check out Hugo. You'll be glad you did. We need more movies like this. "Come and dream with me."

• paul o

  
  It was fun and charming but lacked that intensity that scorsese films have. As a kid's movie, the film has shined through as a different kind in the genre.

• Matthew Samuel M

  
  The beginning, though wonderful to look at, verges on bland. The ending, however is well done and quite charming.

• Thomas J

  
  It fell short of the hype!

• Flutie A

  
  About 1/2 way through, and I can already tell I'll absolutely never need to see this again...BOR-ING.

• EightThirty .

  
  14/06/2012 (Blu-Ray 3D)

• Daniel P

  
  It took me months to come up with this review. Was it because I was speechless? Not exactly. But what Scorsese achieves with this family film is hard to put into words. Coming home from the theatre - where the 3D was worth the money, by the way - I told my girlfriend that I just felt… More
  It took me months to come up with this review. Was it because I was speechless? Not exactly. But what Scorsese achieves with this family film is hard to put into words. Coming home from the theatre - where the 3D was worth the money, by the way - I told my girlfriend that I just felt incredibly warm inside... and I think that's what a great film does. There was a storyline that I didn't enjoy, about the lonely station inspector and Lisette - who you see eventually hooking up from the earliest part of the film - but otherwise, there are a lot of big themes here, orphans, inspiration and the nature and value of art and artists, for starters. Granted, it's adapted from a novel, so Scorsese can't take all the credit here... but riddle me this: how is it that a movie can have Oscar-winning (1) art direction, (2) cinematography, (3) sound editing, (4) sound mixing, and (5!) visual effects, plus nominated (6) editing, (7) adapted screenplay, and (8) costumes without winning (9) best director or (10) best picture!? I'll re-evaluate this statement once I've seen The Artist, but what Scorsese and his team - a team that has been working together toward becoming the best in Hollywood for decades now - have achieved here is nothing short of visionary, a love letter to the wonder of film itself, and to the eternal hope of all children to eventually feel complete, and loved. The train station love plot is a clunk in the machinery, I'll concede, but this film ought to be a classic for years to come. Sweet, beautiful, bloodless departure by an American master. Highly recommend.

• Anthony L

  
  Hugo wins the award for most over-hyped film of 2011. I liked most of the story, I have no doubt it is a wonderful children's book, it just doesn't come to life very well. The 3D/CGI effects are sickly sweet, it looks only marginally better than a Robert Zemeckis animation,… More
  Hugo wins the award for most over-hyped film of 2011. I liked most of the story, I have no doubt it is a wonderful children's book, it just doesn't come to life very well. The 3D/CGI effects are sickly sweet, it looks only marginally better than a Robert Zemeckis animation, which I can't say I'm much of a fan of. The cast is impressive but none of the actors seem to play off each other particularly well and the kid's performances are the type of overacted Radar taught 'This is how British kids are' crap that I loathe (Also, why is everything British when the film is set in Paris?). Pretty much every scene with them in was overlong and painful. Sacha Baron Cohen can be funny in his style of ad-lib comedy when he's in one of his own characters but Scorsese couldn't have made a worse decision than to let him have full freedom of performance. It's evident throughout the film that he hadn't quite decided how to play the character or even what voice to use. he wasn't very funny either. Georges Méliès was a great director, one of the great fathers of film but this is a very odd tribute. I got the few nods to classic films but I'm not sure they worked as a tribute in any way, in fact most of the time the visuals were just lazy copies of famous images, like the Montparnasse train crash of 1895 that wasn't part of a film but will be remembered by most as an Athena poster, usually adorned in student digs with the words 'Crap!' written above it. Too long, a bit boring and just a bit lazy. I can't say I was that impressed.

• Tired of P

  
  Directed by Martin Scorsese, GK Films, 2011. Starring Asa Butterfield, Chloe Moretz, Christopher Lee, Sacha Baron Cohen and Ben Kingsley. Genre: Adventure, Drama, Family. Question: What gives you purpose and makes you feel like you fit into the world? Well, we all have… More
  Directed by Martin Scorsese, GK Films, 2011. Starring Asa Butterfield, Chloe Moretz, Christopher Lee, Sacha Baron Cohen and Ben Kingsley. Genre: Adventure, Drama, Family. Question: What gives you purpose and makes you feel like you fit into the world? Well, we all have something, at least we should. Think about it. This is the message at the heart of Hugo and I think a pretty darn good one. It shouldn't matter if you are 12 or 72 years-old, we all need to feel like we belong, someplace where we know we serve a purpose or what's the meaning of it all, really? Yes, it's a pretty deep, philosophical thought for a movie that I thought was geared to kids primarily. However, my kids enjoyed the movie and I hope somewhere deep inside they understood what the movie was trying to convey. The story begins with a boy, an orphan, who lives in a train station in Paris in the 1930's. You find out why he is there with a few flashbacks but really the story revolves around another story line which is revealed much later in the film. The boy's name is Hugo and his adventure is to find his purpose or to make sure his purpose is real, but how he goes about that will remain a mystery in this review. There was a great surprise, well for me at least, as Hugo's story unfolded. I really want to say more but, as usual, don't want to spoil it for you. However, on the whole I found the storytelling to be a bit on the dull side. Not sure what happened with it but Hugo ran slow. Even with the part of the story line I really liked, it didn't suck me in as I think it could have. The movie was in 3D and the beginning was absolutely stunning with its effects. When the adventure part of this story was front and center the 3D was awesome. However, the majority of the movie was more of a drama and the 3D lost its luster; and soon I found it annoying to have to wear the glasses. I am not a huge fan of 3D movies, by the way, so for you fans out there I am positive you will enjoy that part of the movie. On a bright note: The boy who played Hugo was delightful, and he has the bluest eyes I have ever seen on a human being. I almost think they may have been digitally enhanced. Anyway, he did a great job on the whole, even though there were parts where the film-makers showed children behaving more like adults than children, and that happened here. I still think he did a good job as the lead character of a Scorsese film. Most children should enjoy this film and I recommend you take them to see Hugo. For adults, sadly, this was not one of Scorsese greatest films. My favorite part: The discovery of the message in the film. There is this great scene on a Paris bridge with Notre Dame in the background between the 2 children. A great line was spoken by Hugo. A great line! My least favorite: Sacha Baron Cohen, I am afraid to say. His character was too much of a caricature for me. Rating: PG Length: 127 minutes Review: 6 out of 10

• Chris W

  
  This was not only Martin Scorsese's first PG rated film in about two decades, but also his first family film, and first time making a movie in 3D. It's an adaptation of a children's book, and this was an interesting project whe nit was first announced. Thankfully, the… More
  This was not only Martin Scorsese's first PG rated film in about two decades, but also his first family film, and first time making a movie in 3D. It's an adaptation of a children's book, and this was an interesting project whe nit was first announced. Thankfully, the results are something truly magnificent, kinda like when David Lynch tried something new (The Straight Story) as opposed to being a failure like Francis Ford Coppola's change of pace disaster, Jack. Set in 1920s Paris, Hugo tells the story of an orphan named Hugo Cabret who lives in a train station and makes sure all the clocks are running properly. He goes on a quest to uncover what he thinks is a special message from his late father, but instead finds himself helping an old man come to terms with his past, with the man happening to be film legend Georges Melies. Since the film is ultimately a love letter to classic cinema, it makes this project not seem so odd or alien for Scorsese. Yeah, it shows him branching out, but at the same time still staying somewhat in his comfort zone, at least as far as some of the material is concerned. It's also a love letter to the handcrafted, and the days when "movie magic" was just that. I loved this film. I didn't happen to see it in 3D, but I could just tell that it was probably used as it should be, and used very well at that. Scorsese isn't the type of guy to tinker with something just for the heck of it. If he does something, it's usually not for some sort of stupid ploy or gimmick. This was all very charming, fun, and innocent, and, even though there is some substance, it did leave me feeling perhas somewhat slighted, and just a tad underwhelmed. Also, Sacha Baron Cohen really played up the comical side of his character. Not that that's completely a bad thing, but I was hoping that for once he would just play a character completely straight, and really go full on menacing and/or serious. That said, he still did a decent job, even if it was nothing new for him. Those are really my only complaints here, and they're not even really big ones. This is a magical and wonderful film. It looks great, the cast (aside from Cohen) are all great, and it's nice seeing Marty change it up (and do it well). If you love heartwarming stories, classic cinema (as in early 20th Century), and Martin Scorsese, then this should be a must see for you.

• Sanjay R

  
  Although I didn't care much for the story, Hugo pays tribute to early filmmakers and cinema altogether, which is a very nice feature of this film. The biggest appeal, however, is the great directing by Scorsese and great cinematography. And not to be overshadowed: Cohen,… More
  Although I didn't care much for the story, Hugo pays tribute to early filmmakers and cinema altogether, which is a very nice feature of this film. The biggest appeal, however, is the great directing by Scorsese and great cinematography. And not to be overshadowed: Cohen, Kingsley, Moretz and Butterfield turn in fine performances.

• Mike S

  
  Fabulously directed and infused with great magic, <i>Hugo</i> certainly files under above-average fantasy fare. I can't say I fully concur with the overwhelming critical acclaim, but it's a pleasant journey to take with an amazingly rich visual pizazz. Martin… More
  Fabulously directed and infused with great magic, <i>Hugo</i> certainly files under above-average fantasy fare. I can't say I fully concur with the overwhelming critical acclaim, but it's a pleasant journey to take with an amazingly rich visual pizazz. Martin Scorsese may be a stranger to this family-friendly genre, but he's certainly no weaker for it, as he plays his new instrument like he's never done anything else. Apart from the endearing leads played by Asa Butterfield and Chloë Grace Moretz, I also took a great liking to the wonderful supporting cast. Sacha Baron Cohen is a little more downplayed than usual (no green mankinis this time around), but quite memorable nevertheless as the tenacious station inspector Gustav. As can be said for Sir Ben Kingsley, who brings a lot of passion to his character, as the old toy-maker Georges Méliès. Not to mention the brief, but excellent performances by Ray Winstone, Christopher Lee, Emily Mortimer and Jude Law. Sadly, not everything runs like clockwork though. While the film is enjoyable all the way, the progression of the plot sometimes drags and loses momentum, which is one of the reasons why I can't allow myself to give it a higher rating than I have. It also feels a tad outstretched and would have done good in leaving out some of the less essential scenes. Another thing I wasn't too excited about is the blue & orange color palettes. It's become a common trend in Hollywood these days to apply these sort of "mood-setting" touches, but personally I think it just serves to diminish the visual impact. An enchanting and painstakingly crafted piece of film-making nevertheless though, that if anything shows that Scorsese haven't lost any of his flairs for heartfelt story-telling. My only regret is that I never saw it in the cinema, as I'm sure the neat 3D-elements would have added a lot to the experience.

• Kevin K

  
  Grade: A (95%) I began watching this film only with the knowledge that Martin Scorsese directed it and it was nominated for Best Picture. I did not know what the plot was about, didn't know who was in it, all I knew was that this was going to be a different type of Scorsese… More
  Grade: A (95%) I began watching this film only with the knowledge that Martin Scorsese directed it and it was nominated for Best Picture. I did not know what the plot was about, didn't know who was in it, all I knew was that this was going to be a different type of Scorsese film. Since he is known for his bloody gangster films (Goodfellas, Casino, The Departed), I knew "Hugo" would be different when I saw the PG rating. Not only is this Scorsese's first kids film, it is also a masterpiece. Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) lives in a train station in Paris where he was taught to wind the clocks before his drunk Uncle decided to leave him. During the rest of the day, he steals from Georges (Ben Kingsley) a store owner in the train station. He uses the small pieces within these items to try to rebuild a mechanical person that is able to write when you activate it. His quest is to unlock the secret within the machines writing that his father (Jude Law) has left behind. Hugo is an orphan who is running and sneaking away from the Station Inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen) who wants to send him to an orphanage. His father died accidentally in a museum which pushes Hugo into finishing the mechanical person that his father left behind unfinished. Throughout his travels and problems, he meets a new friend Isabelle (Chloe Moretz), the goddaughter of Georges, who tries to help Hugo unlock the secret message in the machine. The whole story doesn't just follow Hugo and Isabelle trying to complete this machine; in fact, it's completed way before the halfway point of the film. The story is about what happens after Hugo finds the secret message and how it leads to a better life for the orphan boy. There aren't any action sequences worth remembering in this film and that is not a bad thing at all. The real enjoyment comes from the story and characters themselves. It's all about a kid trying to hold on to his father by completing this machine as well as letting go of the past and moving forward to a new life. This is where "Hugo" shines as a true modern kid's film. These days, you need CGI action and dinosaurs and violence to keep kids interested; "Hugo" doesn't use any of that. The world that Scorsese makes uses CGI to represent backgrounds but there are no extinct animals, no creepy creatures and no bullets are flying over the characters' heads. "Hugo" is a family friendly film about a orphan trying to find new life in a world that has been stressful for him. "Hugo" is Martin Scorsese's masterpiece. It is kid friendly and it brings a new feeling that movies are missing. There is no need for action in "Hugo". I love Scorsese's previous films and I was a little skeptical before watching the film. But if you haven't seen this film and love Scorsese's work, this is a must see. There is no violence but all you have to do is trust Scorsese and you will absolutely love this film.

• Matthew S

  
  This is like a live-action version of a Hayao Miyazaki film, full of both loveable, human characters and the playful exploration of relationships. In fact, Studio Ghibli's latest U.S. release, "The Secret World of Arrietty," shares in nearly all of the main themes. But… More
  This is like a live-action version of a Hayao Miyazaki film, full of both loveable, human characters and the playful exploration of relationships. In fact, Studio Ghibli's latest U.S. release, "The Secret World of Arrietty," shares in nearly all of the main themes. But that the fantasy in Hugo is beautifully tied into the non-fictional birth of cinema is what makes this movie an unforgettable work.

• Saskia D

  
  I love the story Scorsese tells us. A family film with an educational value. The acting style is just like in Shutter Island a little theatrical, but after a while it didn't bother me as much anymore. Ben Kingsley is lovely,..

• Directors C

  
  [img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/user/icons/icon14.gif[/img] Hugo really stretched itself out, much longer than it needed to for development of character. It doesn't provide that much action but this is still so much better than other kids films. It has plenty of… More
  [img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/user/icons/icon14.gif[/img] Hugo really stretched itself out, much longer than it needed to for development of character. It doesn't provide that much action but this is still so much better than other kids films. It has plenty of laughs and adventure and the most remarkable trait of all, being a unique fantasy that's actually not that predictable and stylishly enigmatic.

• Randy T

  
  Ever so slightly over-hyped but whimsical and imaginative enough to be well worth your time.

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