Katie and I saw Martin Scorsese's latest masterpiece in theaters last night. It wasn't a movie I particularly wanted to see. It struck me as a cheesy sort of kids film. Katie wanted to see it more than I did. I figured if she wanted to see it, then I would go along if only to see how Scorsese (whom I studied in a grad school English/film course) would approach the making of a kids movie.

Here's all I really knew about it. A boy (Hugo Cabret) is basically homeless living in a train station. He's being chased by a security guard. He meets a girl his age. A train crashes through the station. There's some weird scene with an androidish man flying through the air. It's set in something like the 1920s or 1930s in Paris. Oh, and at some point or another, at least according to the poster, the boy is hanging from the minute hand on a clock tower.

Not much to go on, but as I didn't care, I didn't seek any clarification on the web.

Oh it is soooo much more. 

Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas) is indeed an orphaned child living in the walls of a train station in Paris. He spends his days maintaining the clocks in the station so they don't lose time. He does this secretly as he cannot allow station staff to know both that he is living there and that he is doing the job of his uncle (Ray Winstone) who is constantly missing due to being a drunkard. On occasion, Hugo pilfers toys from a man named Georges (Sir Ben Kingsley of everything) who runs a toy shop in the station. The reason for the pilfering is so Hugo, who has been trained in the art of clockmaking and maintenance by his dad (Jude Law), can use parts from the toys to finish restoring an automaton (a humanoid figure made of metal) that his father rescued from a museum. This task is a labor of love for Hugo as it was the final project that he and his father worked on together. Things happen which further entangle the lives of Hugo and Georges in unexpected and incredible ways and you just kinda have to sit back and let it all unfold.

I really don't want to get into it much more than this as I think the full story here is something you should uncover in the same manner I did... as a complete surprise, assuming you don't already know what it's about. 

The rest of this perfectly cast movie is rounded out by Chloë Grace Moretz as Georges' goddaughter Isabelle, Sacha Baron Cohen as the station inspector, Emily Mortimer as the florist Lisette, Christopher Lee as the bookstore owner Monsier Labisse, Helen McCrory as Georges' wife Jeanne, and Michael Stuhlbarg as film historian Rene Tabard.

Hugo (Asa Butterfield) and Isabelle (Chloë Grace Moretz) watching the automaton in action.

Hugo is a truly beautiful and engaging film. One that deserves many viewings. I found the cinematography to be stunning, the storytelling top notch, the acting second to nothing I've seen this year, and Scorsese's directing to be inspired. 

Oh, and while it's not expressly a kids movie as I initially anticipated, it is most certainly family friendly. But I would warn parents that to see it by themselves first to judge whether the action and themes are appropriate given the age of their children.

Please, if you see no other film this year, see Hugo.

For fun, see if you can keep track of how many Harry Potter alumni are in this film. Katie and I counted three. There could be more.

For the record, I am not being paid or in any other way compensated for this review. Katie and I saw Hugo of our own accord and truly loved it as much as my shameless gushing above would infer.