Subscribe      List an Event or Business      Invite a Writer      Write for WN      Writers      Other Locations
list an event      1 million Australian readers every month      facebook

Hugo - Film Review

Home > Adelaide > Movie Reviews
by Rhys Annetts (subscribe)
A film is - or should be - more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The theme, what's behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later - Stanley Kubrick
Event: -
Copyright Paramount Pictures


"If you ever wonder where your dreams come from, look around: this is where they're made".

Have you ever wondered what your purpose in life is? Have you ever searched for the truth? Have you ever bothered to look at why things happen the way they do? And have you ever searched for the answers and reasoning behind your own life? Well, Hugo is about to embark on the adventure of all adventures, to discover who he truly is.

Set in Paris in the 1930s, Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) is a young boy who lives in a train-station searching for a secret message which his late father left for him. Hugo is determined to figure out just what the message is, while a wacky policeman (Sacha Baron Cohen) is also determined to catch Hugo.

Hugo begins to work for an elderly man, Georges Méliès (Ben Kingsley), who owns a toy shop within the train station. As he fixes the toys and helps Méliès around the shop, he begins to become more curious about the answers which he is searching for after he meets Georges God-daughter Isabelle (Chloë Grace Moretz).

Hugo and Isabelle become the best of friends and she decides to help him find out what everything is supposed to mean, but will it stop there? Or is Isabelle more important to Hugo than he realises? Does Isabelle have some of the answers which Hugo is frantically searching for?

"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".

Come and have an adventure within an adventure, and see the film, that is a film within the film. With great references to classic masterpieces, Hugo has been done to justice. Directed by Martin Scorsese (Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Shutter Island), Hugo has a tremendous change of pace, but this is not a letdown within talking about his directing abilities. With cinematography at its best, Hugo is a captivating film, which will fill your heart with sadness, happiness and even remorse.

Hugo is an extraordinary piece of filmmaking that has everything to keep you entertained. For a great family film these holidays, I recommend Hugo. With everything from dramatic and suspenseful chase scenes, to romance and heartbreak, Hugo is a film which should be remembered in years to come; this is why I award this film 4 out of 5 stars.

So please, go and dream with Hugo, Isabelle and Georges.

You never know what life has to offer you, until you attack it head on.
Help us improve  Click here if you liked this article  13
Share: email  facebook  twitter
Why? Heartwarming filmmaking
When: USA - 23 November 2011
UK - 2 December 2011
Australia - 12 January 2012
Where: Your local cinema
Cost: Check with local cinema
Your Comment
Articles from other cities
Featured
123
Related
by Matt Elliot Taylor on 23/12/2011
by Haydn Radford on 08/02/2012
by Carrie Tong on 13/02/2012
Top Events
114
Popular Articles
62
Categories
Lists
Questions