A timeless tale

LITTLE ROCK — The titular Hugo (Asa Butterfield, whose unbelievably blue eyes are apparently not enhanced by CGI) in Martin Scorsese’s first PG-rated movie in 18 years is the freshly orphaned son of a clockmaker who is brought to live in the walls of the Montparnasse train station sometime around 1931.

Hugo is brought there by his dissolute uncle (Ray Winstone),a drunkard who trains the boy to do the uncle’s job of minding the station’s various clocks and then apparently abandons him to survive by his wits and light, nimble fingers.

From his various vantage points in the wall, Hugo is able to observe and know some of the denizens of the station; he watches like some god of mischief, taking advantage of their routine distractions to filch what he requires - whether it’s croissants and milk or some tiny springs from a toy maker’s stand to continue a restoration problem - the repair of an automaton styled as a tiny man - he began with his father (Jude Law) in happier times.

But one day Hugo is literally seized by the toy maker, an older man named George (Ben Kingsley), who confiscates the contents of his pockets, including a notebook that contains drawings of the automaton. George threatens to turn Hugo over to his nemesis - the station inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen), who seems especially interested in arresting and delivering stray children to the orphanage - but relents, though he keeps the notebook, despite Hugo’s persistent pleading.

Eventually, Hugo enlists the help of George’s bookish goddaughter Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz) in an effort to recover his property. Isabelle, as it turns out, is also an orphan, though her circumstances are quite a bit more comfortable than Hugo’s. She agrees to help him for the sake of adventure, and eventually Hugo is insinuated into George’s orbit as together the young orphans eventually discover a secret about the toy maker.

Hugo will inevitably be described as “magical,” and the description fits as far as it goes. This is Scorsese’s first foray into 3-D, and while it didn’t turn this skeptic into a believer in the form, I will admit the 10-minute, dialogue free opening shot that sweeps through the train station to the rousing strands of three time Oscar winner Howard Shore’s lustrous score is one of the highlights of this cinematic year.

It is not difficult to receive the film as a triumph of technical achievement, and it is heartening to think that Scorsese was able to marshal so much talent and treasure in pursuit of what is ultimately a very idiosyncratic vision. Soon one level I cherish Hugo - children of all ages need entertainment options as rich and generous as this.

Yet I also feel about Hugo what I feel about Terence Malick’s The Tree of Life. I’m very glad these movies were made, I love large parts of both of them, but I don’t know if the films were made for anyone other than the auteurs who made them. There are long stretches of both movies that I don’t need to see again. But that’s me. To really enjoy magic requires a certain willing submission, and it’s difficult for a jaded old moviegoer like myself to simply suspend my curiosity about how things are accomplished and focus less on the trick and more on its effect. Watching something fantastic on-screen, my mind immediately runs to how the magic is accomplished; I won’t believe a man can fly because I know men can’t, but I can appreciate the applied science that furnishes the illusion. This might be an inferior way of experiencing a movie, but it’s the only way I have; a bright 12-year-old will necessarily experience Hugo much differently than her grandparents.

So maybe what Marty has made here is the best children’s movie of the century so far - it really is remarkably family friendly, with no black villains and a thoroughly uplifting message that suggests few things are ever really broken beyond repair. It does a remarkable job of making what might seem esoteric material - French silent movies - accessible to a general audience. And if the final act feels rather like the longest and most expensive film preservation public service announcement ever mounted, at least it is a worthy cause.

Hugo 88 Cast: Asa Butterfield, Chloe Grace Moretz, Ben Kingsley, Jude Law, Emily Mortimer, Ray Winstone, Sacha Baron Cohen Director: Martin Scorsese Rating: PG, for mild thematic material, some action/peril and smoking Running time: 127 minutes