The film is about a boy named Hugo (of course) who lives alone, inside the clock tower of the train station in Paris, France. He is able to survive day-to-day by stealing food, along with other materials which I will discuss in a moment. Hugo (played by Asa Butterfield) also maintains and runs the clocks of the train station, which he has been doing since his alcoholic uncle (played by Ray Winstone) who had been taking care of him, ran away. He hopes to keep up the facade that his Uncle is actually running the clocks so he is not taken to an orphanage. Why is Hugo being raised by his Uncle to begin with? More on that in a minute as well.
One of the places Hugo steals from inside the station is a toy and gadget store run by an older man named George Melies (played by Ben Kingsley). He has apparently been doing this for a while, and one day, is caught red handed stealing gadget parts by Melies. In addition to confiscating the parts he stole, Melies also confiscates a sketch book that Hugo has mechanical with drawings to some kind of robot. This, of course, is why Hugo is stealing the gadget parts. But why is he building a robot? And just as important, why is Melies so shocked and insistent on keeping the notebook after Hugo has repeatedly begged him to give the notebook back?
The movie soon reveals that Hugo actually is building a robot, specifically a small robot called an automaton (
which are real, by the way). It was the something that his father, a clock builder and gadget repairman (played by Jude Law) was working on fixing. Hugo's father, who appears only briefly in the film, found the automaton in a burnt-up museum. He doesn't get to work on it very long, as he is killed in a building fire, and thus, forces Hugo to move into the train station with his drunk Uncle (without the dignity to even process this news properly). Without moving in with his Uncle, he risks being sent off to an orphanage. Hugo then dedicates his life to fixing the automaton that his father did not fix. In addition to the need to finish what his father started, he feels there is some bigger meaning that will reveal itself by fixing it.
As to why the drawings of this robot are so important to Melies, I will let movie fell in that detail, along with telling the rest of his story. Melies was a real person, and you may look him up if you like. Students of classic cinema already know who he is, and revealing his story will not necessarily spoil the twists and turns in the film, although I would prefer to not do so during this review. However, I will offer this picture as a hint. It is also a picture that is very relevant to the storyline of the film:
This is one of those family films that adults and children can watch together, and both will actually enjoy. Although it may not be appropriate for small children (7 and under probably), Hugo is a film that is fun, adventurous, and quite friendly to younger viewers. An example of this includes a chase scene through the station in the first few minutes of the film where Hugo is being hunted down by the Station Inspector (played by Sacha Baron Cohen), and his faithful sidekick, Maximilianus the Rottweiler. By the end of the scene, your child will be probably be laughing out loud (you may be too) as Hugo makes his escape.
It should be noted that the Station Inspector, who is obsessed with tracking down thieving children and sending them off to the orphanage, comes off as the stereotypical children's story villain at first. By this, I mean he is mean, unnecessarily authoritative, and seems to take at least some pleasure in making the lives of the young miserable (think of a villain from a Dickens novel). The Station Inspector also has a leg brace, which come off as part of the joke in the opening chase scene and several proceeding scenes. He even struggles to chase after Hugo due to his leg and the inconvenience of the brace.
But as the film progresses, we learn that he is disabled because of any injury from "the war" (World War I), and he will never be healed again. Here, we learn a lot about who the Station Inspector really is, and we begin to feel sympathy towards. While it doesn't excuse the cruelty he gives towards young children, it at least explains it to a point. Scorsese, through the Station Inspector, also seems to provide some important lessons to younger viewers on the disabled, as well as the true nature of people who act "bad" or "mean". This may or may not be intentional, but kudos nonetheless, sir!
There are several different themes to this film which are quite relevant to the human condition that adults, and children to some extent, will be able to relate to. One theme is human isolation, and the need for human connection. Different individuals in the film, including Hugo, struggle with the desire to connect with someone else. Hugo is able to fill the need for connection when he befriends Isabelle, who is also George Meile's Goddaughter. Chloe (played by Chloe Moritz), is a perky young girl who relishes the fun and excitement she reads in the adventure novels she borrows from the train station library. She offers to help Hugo out with his quest to retrieve the notebook, repair the automaton, and discover the secret behind her Godfather. Through Hugo, she also finds friendship, as well as a fulfillment of her own desire to be adventurous.
Another important theme to the movie is the need to fulfill one's purpose, and the sorrow one feels when they are "broken", and cannot do this anymore. It is similar to an athlete who is severely injured and can no longer play their sport, or musician who had broken his or her instrument and cannot afford a new one. Like the automaton that Hugo is trying to fix, Melies is certainly broken and cannot fulfill his own purpose (I will not reveal what that purpose is in this review). At one point, Hugo states something very important to this theme of when referring to the majesty and harmony of clocks and other gadgets:
I'd imagine the whole world was one big machine. Machines never come with any extra parts, you know. They always come with the exact amount they need. So I figured, if the entire world was one big machine, I couldn't be an extra part. I had to be here for some reason.
Those who are more spiritually minded will no doubt see religion and the purpose a person has bestowed upon them by a higher power. Indeed, Scorsese is a devout Catholic, and such beliefs may or may not have gone into this part of the film. Fair enough. For those who are more skeptical of spiritual beliefs, such as myself, they should not fear this concept being brought up. Even if you don't believe any God gave you a purpose, does it not stand to reason that it is human nature for one to feel they have something in life they feel skilled at and can use to help the greater good (for me, it is teaching and writing). I will now digress from this topic before I delve further into a philosophical wormhole that I cannot escape.
Going back to the film, Hugo is exciting, emotionally-driven and slightly thought-provoking all at once. This film is already receiving massive amounts of Oscar buzz, as it should. The movie is well-acted (Kingsley and Butterfield both deserve consideration by the Academy for nominations), well-written (excellent story by John Logan and Brian Selznick) and well-directed, of course. Martin Scorsese is capable of making a fabulous children's movie, which convinces me there probably isn't any type of film he couldn't make. Perhaps next time Hollywood has a script for the next "out of this world" Sci-Fi flick, or that next big Romantic Comedy, someone should give Marty a call.
