Until now I'd never had the person at the box office comment on my particular ticket purchase but when he smiled and said "good choice" after I asked for a ticket to Hugo I admit that my already high hopes climbed even a bit higher. Upon entering theater 8 I realized that I had not been the only one who had great expectations for Hugo. It was surely the biggest theater in the multiplex. Most of the seats remained empty though as the masses flocked to the latest Jonah Hill and Justin Beaver products. Wait, maybe it was Zac Enron and not Justine Beaver. Which one was the girl in High School Musical? Anyways she is the one who's in New Year's Eve.
From the opening scenes it is obvious that a lot of heart, soul and 170 million dollars went into the making of Hugo. It is visually gorgeous and rich. The 3D (I didn't have the 2D option) was very well done but not really necessary I think. Technically stunning, I'll be very surprised if Hugo doesn't win at least a couple of those more obscure academy awards that they hand out about half way through the show when viewers are out going to the bathroom or getting a more refreshing snack to counter the salty/sweet ones they polished off during the first half.
Hugo is played by a boy (Asa Butterfield) I've never seen before and he was okay I guess. He soon meets a girl played by Chloë Moretz (good thing she has the umlaut over the e in her currently twelfth most popular girl's name, otherwise everyone would be calling her Klow right?) I first saw her in a small part in 500 Days of Summer and then she had a starring role as Hit Girl in Kick Ass. And I'm sorry Chloë but after you've been Hit Girl you just never get to wear a beret in earnest ever again. In all honesty I just don't like her much. She seeems to have this annoying quality about her that shines through into any role or character she plays. Her smiley nature in Hugo is almost creepy in its fakeness.
Other prominent characters are played by Ben Kingsley, a shop owner inside a Paris train station, Sacha Baron Cohen plays a cross between Borat and Inspector Clouseau, you've got Uncle Vernon Dursley hitting on Hagrid's girlfriend throughout the movie, hang on, I thought the Dursleys hated magic folk. Anyway there are lots of characters and hundreds of extras and the whole thing is just grandë all around. (Hey I've got the ë copied onto my clipboard so I might as well keep using it right?)
The first half of the movie is quite an adventure and things seem promising but the second half kind of turns into early film appreciation 101. Everything is extremely well done but it just seemed to be missing a heart. The moments that should have been touching or heart tugging mostly fall flat.
There are many clever bits. As we laugh smugly at an on screen audience's panicked reaction to a train rushing towards them in an early silent film we forget that we had just minutes earlier held out our hands to catch some 3D snowflakes that seemed to be falling all around us.
Hugo is not for the young but for the young at heart. It is a movie about movies, an ode to movies and their earliest beginnings. On certain levels it is a wonderful spectacle, overall though it lacks a heart to make it work, to do what it is made to do, just like the automaton.
2 comments:
I didn't see the 3D but I did recognize a few spots in the movie that I was sure were good in 3D. I did like the movie and think it has some great adventure in it, but the story didn't quite develop how I thought it might. Still, very enjoyable.
Yeah, it is a good movie and of much higher calibre than most of what comes out these days. It could been even better though.
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