Movie Review: Hugo

I knew very little about this movie before going to see it. I honestly thought it was going to be a very detailed digitally animated movie. But something compelled me to see it.

The movie starts slow. Almost painfully slow. But that makes the audience more likely to latch on to any little thing they feed us. There's a boy who lives in the walls and in the clocks of a train station in Paris. He keeps the clocks running. He watches people go about their lives down below. He likes to steal from a toy maker. But not for the toys. For the parts.

The movie starts to pick up. He's got a notebook with some sketches that don't make much sense to the audience. But they upset the toy maker. Hugo starts running around with the girl the toy maker is raising. She's looking for adventure. He has a mystery that he needs to solve since it's all he has of his father.

The movie has a magical quality. It doesn't move like we're used to. The very pacing seems to lend it a slightly odd feel. And it feels bit like a Narnia story or Peter Pan. But instead of having to go to a distant magical land they find it around each corner. They find it in a library run by Christopher Lee. They find it in a shop full of clockwork toys. They find it inside stone walls that feels like climbing inside the toys while making everyone outside look like they're the toys.

The big mystery is what is that clockwork man? Who made it? What does it do? Why does this strange girl have a necklace that fits in the automaton's neck? What does the toy maker know about it? And why is he so angry?

I liked this movie. I don't know if I'll get this movie on DVD, but I'll definitely try to take Yummy to see it. If I can't then I'll get the DVD. It's a story she'd love even if it didn't star Ben Kingsley.