:Hugo (film)
{{short description|2011 historical drama film directed by Martin Scorsese}}
{{Use American English|date=September 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2019}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Hugo
| image = Hugo Poster.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| director = Martin Scorsese
| producer = {{Plainlist|
- Graham King
- Timothy Headington
- Martin Scorsese
- Johnny Depp }}
| screenplay = {{Plainlist|
- John Logan }}
| based_on = {{Based on|The Invention of Hugo Cabret|Brian Selznick}}
| starring = {{Plainlist|
- Ben Kingsley
- Sacha Baron Cohen
- Asa Butterfield
- Chloë Grace Moretz
- Ray Winstone
- Emily Mortimer
- Jude Law }}
| music = Howard Shore
| cinematography = Robert Richardson
| editing = Thelma Schoonmaker
| studio = {{Plainlist|
}}
| distributor = Paramount Pictures
| released = {{Film date|2011|10|10|NYFF|2011|11|23|United States}}
| runtime = 126 minutes{{cite web |url=https://bbfc.co.uk/releases/hugo-2011-1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141110095014/http://bbfc.co.uk/releases/hugo-2011-1 |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 10, 2014 |title=HUGO |website=British Board of Film Classification |date=November 25, 2011 |access-date=February 23, 2020}}
| country = United States{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/68291-HUGO?sid=ca636519-6298-4da3-823b-46b02556730a&sr=10.198365&cp=1&pos=0|title=Hugo (2011)|publisher=American Film Institute|access-date=February 23, 2020}}{{cite web|url=http://lumiere.obs.coe.int/web/film_info/?id=37098|title=Film #37098: Hugo|publisher=Lumiere|access-date=February 23, 2020}}
| language = English
| budget = $150–170 million{{cite news|url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2011/11/muppets-arthur-christmas-hugo-box-office.html|title=Movie Projector: 'Breaking Dawn' to devour three new family films|last=Kaufman|first=Amy|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=November 24, 2011|access-date=November 24, 2011}}
| gross = $185.8 million{{cite web|url=https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=hugocabret.htm |title=Hugo (2011) |website=Box Office Mojo |date=April 12, 2012 |access-date=September 18, 2012}}
}}
Hugo is a 2011 American adventure drama film directed and produced by Martin Scorsese, and adapted for the screen by John Logan. Based on Brian Selznick's 2007 book The Invention of Hugo Cabret, it tells the story of a boy who lives alone in the Gare Montparnasse railway station in Paris in the 1930s, only to become embroiled in a mystery surrounding his late father's automaton and the pioneering filmmaker Georges Méliès.
Hugo is Scorsese's first film shot in 3D, about which the filmmaker remarked, "I found 3D to be really interesting, because the actors were more upfront emotionally. Their slightest move, their slightest intention is picked up much more precisely."{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15967276 |title=Can Martin Scorsese's Hugo save 3D? |last=Savage |first=Mark |work=BBC News |access-date=2012-12-09 |date=2011-12-01}} The film was released in the United States on November 23, 2011.{{cite web |url=http://www.hugomovie.com/intl/releasedates/release-dates.html |title=Global Sites & Release Dates |website=Paramount Pictures |access-date=2011-08-11 |archive-date=August 20, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130820173832/http://www.hugomovie.com/intl/releasedates/release-dates.html |url-status=dead }}
Despite receiving considerable acclaim from critics, Hugo was a financial disappointment, grossing only $185 million against its estimated $150 million budget. The film received 11 Academy Award nominations (including Best Picture), more than any other film that year, winning a leading five awards: Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, and Best Visual Effects.{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/idUS109713366520120227 |title=Oscars 2012: 'The Artist' and 'Hugo' Tie for 5 Awards, But Silent Film Wins Best Picture |website=Reuters |date=2012-02-27 |access-date=2012-03-02}} It was also nominated for eight BAFTAs, including Best Director, and winning two, and was nominated for three Golden Globes, including Scorsese's third win for Best Director.
Plot
In 1931 Paris, 12-year-old Hugo Cabret lives with his widowed father, a clockmaker who works at a museum. Hugo's father finds a broken automaton – a mechanical man created to draw with a pen. He and Hugo try to repair it, documenting their work in a notebook. Following his father’s death in a fire, Hugo goes to live with his alcoholic uncle Claude, who maintains the clocks at Gare Montparnasse. When Claude his uncle goes missing, Hugo continues maintaining the clocks, fearing that the Station Inspector Gustave Dasté will send him away if Claude's absence is discovered. Hugo attempts to repair the automaton with stolen parts, believing it contains a message from his father, but the machine requires a heart-shaped key.
One day, Hugo is caught stealing parts from a toy store, and the owner, Georges, takes his notebook, threatening to destroy it. Georges' goddaughter Isabelle suggests that Hugo confront Georges and demand it back. Georges proposes that Hugo work at his toy store as recompense, and after some time he might return the notebook. Hugo accepts and commences work, in addition to his job maintaining the clocks. Isabelle and Hugo become fast friends, and Hugo is astonished to see she wears a heart-shaped key, given to her by Georges. Hugo shows her the automaton, which they activate with the key. It draws a scene from A Trip to the Moon, once described to Hugo by his father. Isabelle identifies the drawing's signature as that of "Georges Méliès" – her godfather. She sneaks Hugo into her home, where they find a hidden cache of drawings, but they are discovered by Georges, who bans Hugo from his house.
Several days later, at the Film Academy Library, Hugo and Isabelle find a book about the history of cinema that praises Méliès' contributions. They meet the book's author, René Tabard, a film expert who is surprised to hear Méliès is alive, as he disappeared after World War I along with the copies of his films. Excited at the chance to meet Méliès again, René agrees to meet Isabelle and Hugo at Georges' home to show his copy of A Trip to the Moon.
Finding the heart-shaped key on the station railway tracks, Hugo drops down to the track to retrieve it, and is run over by an out-of-control train that smashes through the station. He wakes up from the nightmare, but hears an ominous ticking emanating from himself, and discovers he has been turned into the automaton. Hugo wakes up again: it was only another nightmare.
At Georges' home, his wife Jeanne allows them in after René recognises her as Jeanne d'Alcy, an actress in many of Méliès' films. They play the film, waking Georges, who is finally convinced to cherish his accomplishments rather than regret his lost dreams. Georges recounts that, as a stage magician, he was fascinated by motion pictures and used film to create imaginative works through his Star Film Company. Forced into bankruptcy after the war, he closed his studio and sold or destroyed his films. He laments that even an automaton he built and donated to a museum was lost in a fire; Hugo realizes it is the one he has repaired.
Hugo races to the station to retrieve the automaton but is caught by Dasté, who has learned of Claude's death. Dasté threatens to take Hugo to the orphanage to torment him. Hugo runs away and manages to evade Dasté by hiding on the outer face of the clock tower, precariously balancing hundreds of feet above the ground. After climbing back down, Hugo races to escape the station but drops the automaton on the tracks. He jumps down to retrieve it and is almost run over by a train, but Dasté saves him and the automaton. Georges arrives and tells Dasté, "This child belongs to me."
Sometime later, Georges is named a professor at the Film Academy, and is paid tribute through a showcase of his films recovered by René. Hugo and his new family celebrate at the apartment, and Isabelle begins to write down Hugo's own story.
Cast
{{castlist|
- Ben Kingsley as Georges Méliès / Papa Georges
- Sacha Baron Cohen as Inspector Gustave Dasté
- Asa Butterfield as Hugo Cabret
- Chloë Grace Moretz as Isabelle
- Ray Winstone as Claude Cabret
- Emily Mortimer as Lisette
- Jude Law as Mr. Cabret
- Helen McCrory as Jehanne D'Alcy / Mama Jeanne
- Michael Stuhlbarg as René Tabard
- Christopher Lee as Monsieur Labisse
- Frances de la Tour as Madame Emile
- Richard Griffiths as Monsieur Frick
- Kevin Eldon as Policeman
- Gulliver McGrath as Young Tabard
- Angus Barnett as Cinema manager
- Ben Addis as Salvador Dalí
- Emil Lager as Django Reinhardt
- Robert Gill as James Joyce
- Marco Aponte as Train engineer assistant
}}
Michael Pitt, Martin Scorsese, and Brian Selznick have cameo roles.
Production
=Pre-production=
{{see also|The Invention of Hugo Cabret}}
GK Films acquired the screen rights to The Invention of Hugo Cabret shortly after the book was published in 2007. Initially, Chris Wedge was signed in to direct the adaptation and John Logan was contracted to write the screenplay.{{cite journal|last=Siegel |first=Tatiana |url=https://variety.com/2008/digital/markets-festivals/chris-wedge-to-direct-hugo-cabret-1117985121/ |title=Chris Wedge to direct 'Hugo Cabret' |journal=Variety |date=2008-05-05 |access-date=2012-08-24}} The film was initially titled Hugo Cabret. Several actors were hired, including Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Asa Butterfield, Chloë Grace Moretz, and Helen McCrory. Jude Law, Ray Winstone, Christopher Lee, Frances de la Tour, and Richard Griffiths later joined the project. Hugo was originally budgeted at $100 million, but ran over with a final budget between $156 million and $170 million.{{cite news |last=Goldstein|first=Patrick |title=Graham King on 'Hugo's' box-office woes: 'It's been painful' |url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2012/02/graham-king-on-hugos-rough-ride-its-been-painful.html |access-date=2012-04-08 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=2012-02-06}} In February 2012, Graham King summed up his experience of producing Hugo: "Let's just say that it hasn't been an easy few months for me—there's been a lot of Ambien involved".
=Filming=
Principal photography began in London on June 29, 2010; the first shooting location was at the Shepperton Studios.{{cite journal |last=Fernandez |first=Jay A. |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/jude-law-cast-scorseses-cabret-25089 |title=Jude Law cast in Scorsese's 'Cabret' |journal=The Hollywood Reporter |date=2010-06-29 |access-date=2012-08-24}} The Nene Valley Railway near Peterborough also lent their original Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits rolling stock to the studio.{{cite journal |last=Weintraub |first=Steve |url=https://www.collider.com/2010/06/29/hugo-cabret-filming-commences-jude-law-ray-winstone-christopher-lee |title=Hugo Cabret Filming Commences Full Cast Announced Jude Law, Ray Winstone, Christopher Lee |journal=Collider |date=2010-06-29 |access-date=2010-06-30 |archive-date=December 13, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101213041551/http://www.collider.com/2010/06/29/hugo-cabret-filming-commences-jude-law-ray-winstone-christopher-lee/ |url-status=dead }}{{cite news |last=Truslove |first=Ben |url= http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/lifestyle/the-guide/film_legend_scorcese_s_peterborough_film_shoot_1_2340922 |title=Film Legend Scorcese's Peterborough film shoot |date=2011-01-25 |newspaper=Peterborough Telegraph |access-date=2011-10-21}}
In August 2010, production moved to Paris for two weeks. Locations included the Sainte-Geneviève Library, the Sorbonne (where a lecture hall was converted into a 1930s cinema hall) in the 5th arrondissement, and the Théâtre de l'Athénée and its surrounding area in the 9th. High school Lycée Louis-le-Grand served as the film's base of operations in Paris; its cafeteria served 700 meals a day for the cast and crew.{{cite news |last=Faye |first=Olivier |url=http://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2010/08/23/sur-les-traces-de-martin-scorsese-a-paris_1401787_3246.html |title=Sur les traces de Martin Scorsese à Paris |date=2010-08-23 |newspaper=Le Monde |trans-title=In the footsteps of Martin Scorsese in Paris |language=fr}}
=Music=
{{Main|Hugo (soundtrack)}}
The film's soundtrack includes an Oscar-nominated original score composed by Howard Shore, and also makes prominent use of the Danse macabre by Camille Saint-Saëns and Gnossienne No. 1 by Erik Satie. Additional music was provided uncredited by French pianist and composer Jean-Michel Bernard.{{cite web |title=Jean-Michel Bernard |url=http://www.cristalpublishing.com/jean-michel-bernard-eng/ |website=Cristal Publishing |access-date=2019-03-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305061257/http://www.cristalpublishing.com/jean-michel-bernard-eng/ |archive-date=March 5, 2016 |url-status=dead }} The singer Zaz performs on track 20, "Cœur volant".
Release
The film was originally intended to be distributed by Sony Pictures until February 2011, when Paramount Pictures acquired worldwide distribution rights for the film excluding the UK and Ireland, France, Italy, Switzerland, Turkey and the Middle East. GK Films retained rights in the aforementioned territories, selling the film to Entertainment Film Distributors in the UK and Ireland, Metropolitan Filmexport in France, 01 Distribution in Italy, Ascot Elite Entertainment Group in Switzerland and Pinema in Turkey.{{cite web |url=https://deadline.com/2011/02/paramount-to-distribute-martin-scorseses-hugo-cabret-for-thanksgiving-107711/ | title=Paramount To Distribute Martin Scorsese's 'Hugo Cabret' For Thanksgiving | publisher=Deadline Hollywood | access-date=7 January 2025}}{{cite web |url=https://www.screendaily.com/distribution/martin-scorseses-hugo-cabret-goes-from-sony-to-paramount/5024059.article | title=Martin Scorsese's Hugo Cabret goes from Sony to Paramount | publisher=Screen Daily | access-date=7 January 2025}}
The film premiered at the NYFF on October 10, 2011, was theatrically released on November 23, 2011, by Paramount Pictures, and was released on DVD and Blu-ray on February 28, 2012, by Paramount Home Media Distribution. Hugo has grossed $34.3 million in home video revenue.{{cite web |title=Hugo (2011) |url=https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Hugo |website=The Numbers |access-date=2019-03-01}}
The film had its UK premiere at the Royal Film Performance, an event held in aid of the Film & TV Charity, on November 28, 2011, at the Odeon Leicester Square. It was attended by the Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall.{{Cite web |last=Kemp |first=Stuart |date=2011-11-08 |title=Martin Scorsese's 'Hugo' Chosen For Royal Film Performance 2011 |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/martin-scorsese-s-hugo-chosen-258731/ |access-date=2022-06-09 |website=The Hollywood Reporter |language=en-US}}
Historical references
{{multiple image
| align = right
| total_width = 300
| image1 = Henri Maillardet automaton, London, England, c. 1810 - Franklin Institute - DSC06656.jpg
| image2 = Automates-Jaquet-Droz-p1030493.jpg
| footer = Maillardet's automaton (left) and the Jaquet-Droz automaton "the writer" (right) were inspirations for the design of the automaton in the film.
}}
The backstory and primary features of Georges Méliès' life as depicted in the film are largely accurate: he became interested in film after seeing a demonstration of the Lumière brothers' camera;{{cite web |url=https://www.earlycinema.com/georges-melies-motion-picture-pioneer/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201215141258/https://www.earlycinema.com/georges-melies-motion-picture-pioneer/ |url-status=usurped |archive-date=December 15, 2020 |title=Pioneers: Georges Melies |website=EarlyCinema.com |access-date=2012-03-25}} he was a magician and toymaker; he experimented with automata; he owned a theatre (Théâtre Robert-Houdin); he was forced into bankruptcy; his film stock was reportedly melted down for its celluloid; he became a toy salesman at the Montparnasse station, and he was eventually awarded the Légion d'honneur medal after a period of terrible neglect. Many of the early silent films shown in the movie are Méliès' actual works, such as Le voyage dans la lune (1902). However, the film does not mention Méliès' two children, his brother Gaston (who worked with Méliès during his film-making career), or his first wife Eugénie, who was married to Méliès during the time he made films (and who died in 1913). The film shows Méliès married to Jeanne d'Alcy during their filmmaking period, when in reality they did not marry until 1925.
The automaton's design was inspired by the Maillardet's automaton made by the Swiss watchmaker Henri Maillardet, which Selznick had seen in the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia,{{cite news |last=Fountain |first=Henry |title=Graceful Moves, for a Boy Made of Metal |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/27/science/maillardet-automaton-inspired-martin-scorseses-film-hugo.html |access-date=27 December 2011 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=26 December 2011}} as well as the Jaquet-Droz automaton "the writer".{{cite news |last=Lytal |first=Cristy |title=Working Hollywood: Dick George, prop maker |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-xpm-2011-nov-27-la-ca-working-hollywood-20111127-story.html |access-date=25 January 2012 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=27 November 2011}} A portion of the scene with Harold Lloyd in Safety Last! (1923), hanging from the clock, is shown when the main characters sneak into a movie theater. Later, Hugo, like Lloyd in Safety Last!, hangs from the hands of a large clock on a clock tower to escape from a pursuer.
{{multiple image
| align = left
| total_width = 360
| image1 = Le Voyage dans la lune (black and white, 1902).webm{{!}}thumbtime=6:20
| image2 = L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat (1897).webm{{!}}thumbtime=0:11
| footer = Scenes in Hugo recreate viewings of silent films such as Méliès' A Trip to the Moon and the Lumière brothers' L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat.
}}
Several viewings of the 1895 film L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat are portrayed, depicting the shocked reaction of the audience—although this view is in doubt.{{cite journal |title=LUMIÈRE'S "ARRIVAL OF THE TRAIN": Cinema's Founding Myth |last=Loiperdinger |first=Martin |journal=The Moving Image |volume=4 |number=1 |date=Spring 2004 |pages=89–118 |jstor=41167150 }}
Emil Lager, Ben Addis, and Robert Gill make cameo appearances as the father of Gypsy jazz guitar, Django Reinhardt, the Spanish surrealist painter Salvador Dalí, and the Irish writer James Joyce, respectively. The names of all three characters appear towards the end of the film's cast credit list.{{cite web |title=Hugo (2011) – Full Cast and Crew |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0970179/fullcredits#cast |website=IMDb|access-date=13 December 2011}}
The book that Monsieur Labisse gives Hugo as a gift, Robin Hood le proscrit (Robin Hood the outlaw), was written by Alexandre Dumas in 1864 as a French translation of an 1838 work by Pierce Egan the Younger in England. The book is symbolic, as Hugo must avoid the "righteous" law enforcement (Inspector Gustave) to live in the station and later to restore the automaton both to a functioning status and to its rightful owner. The particular copy given to Hugo looks like the 1917 English-language edition (David McKay publisher, Philadelphia, United States) with cover and interior illustrations by N.C. Wyeth, but with "Le Proscrit" added to the cover by the prop department. The film also depicts the Montparnasse derailment, when at 4:00 pm on 22 October 1895, the Granville–Paris Express overran the buffer stop at its Gare Montparnasse terminus.
In their confrontation with the Station Inspector, Isabelle claims she named her cat after the famous poet Christina Rossetti, as Isabelle then begins to recite the first lines of Rossetti's poem "A Birthday".{{Cite web|last=Poets|first=Academy of American|title=A Birthday by Christina Rossetti - Poems {{!}} Academy of American Poets|url=https://poets.org/poem/birthday|access-date=2021-03-11|website=poets.org}} Near the end of the film, Georges is in a discussion about the origins of filmmaking, and he and Jeanne mention the "cave pictographs in Niaux". This is a reference to the Cave of Niaux archeological site, which features ancient wall paintings that are thought to have been made 17,000 to 11,000 years ago.{{Cite web|title=The Palaeolithic Cave Paintings of the Niaux Cave in France|url=http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/niaux/|access-date=2021-03-11|website=Bradshaw Foundation|language=en}}
Reception
=Box office =
Hugo earned $15.4 million over its Thanksgiving weekend debut. It went on to earn US$73,864,507 domestically and $111,905,653 overseas, for a worldwide gross of $185,770,160. Despite praise from critics, Hugo was cited as one of the year's notable box-office flops. Its perceived failure was due to competition with Disney's The Muppets and Summit's Breaking Dawn Part 1.{{cite news |first=Ben |last=Fritz |url=https://www.latimes.com/business/la-xpm-2011-dec-01-la-fi-ct-hugo-20111201-story.html |title=For 'Hugo,' a big opening isn't necessarily better |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=2011-12-01 |access-date=2014-02-24}} The film was estimated to have had a net loss of $100 million.{{cite web |url=http://www.virginmedia.com/movies/features/biggest-flops-of-2011.php?page=9 |title=Hugo—Biggest movie flops of 2011 - Movies |publisher=Virgin Media |date=2011-12-20 |access-date=2014-02-24}} Producer Graham King said that the film's box-office results were painful. "There's no finger-pointing—I'm the producer and I take the responsibility," he said. "Budget-wise, there just wasn't enough prep time and no one really realized how complicated doing a 3D film was going to be. I went through three line-producers because no one knew exactly what was going on. Do I still think it's a masterpiece that will be talked about in 20 years? Yes. But once the schedule started getting out of whack, things just spiraled and spiraled and that's when the avalanche began."{{cite web |first=Graham |last=King |url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2012/02/graham-king-on-hugos-rough-ride-its-been-painful.html |title='Hugo's' box-office woes: 'It's been painful' |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=2012-02-06 |access-date=2014-02-24}}
=Critical reception=
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 93% based on 230 reviews, with an average rating of 8.30/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Hugo is an extravagant, elegant fantasy with an innocence lacking in many modern kids' movies, and one that emanates an unabashed love for the magic of cinema."{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hugo/ |title=Hugo (2011) |website=Rotten Tomatoes |access-date= June 7, 2021}} Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 83 out of 100, based on 41 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".{{cite web |url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/hugo |title=Hugo Reviews |website=Metacritic |access-date=March 6, 2016}} Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.{{cite web |url= https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/box-office-report-new-years-272195 |title= Box Office Report: 'New Year's Eve' Leads Worst Weekend Since 2008 With $13.7 Million |website=The Hollywood Reporter |date= December 11, 2011 |access-date= August 5, 2020}}
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four out of four stars, saying that the film "is unlike any other film Martin Scorsese has ever made, and yet possibly the closest to his heart: a big-budget, family epic in 3-D, and in some ways, a mirror of his own life. We feel a great artist has been given command of the tools and resources he needs to make a movie about—movies."{{cite news |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111121/REVIEWS/111119982 |title=Hugo Review |last=Ebert |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Ebert |newspaper=Chicago Sun-Times |access-date=2011-11-23 |archive-date=February 12, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120212192413/http://www.rogerebert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111121/REVIEWS/111119982 |url-status=dead }} Peter Rainer of The Christian Science Monitor gave it a "B+" grade and termed it as "an odd mixture: a deeply personal impersonal movie" and concluded that "Hugo is a mixed bag but one well worth rummaging through."{{cite news |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Movies/2011/1123/Martin-Scorsese-s-3-D-Hugo-movie-review |title=Martin Scorsese's 3-D 'Hugo': movie review | first=Peter |last=Rainer |newspaper=The Christian Science Monitor |date=2011-11-23 |access-date=2012-08-24}} Christy Lemire said that the film had an "abundant love of the power of film; being a hardcore cinephile (like Scorsese) might add a layer of enjoyment, but it certainly isn't a prerequisite for walking in the door" besides being "slightly repetitive and overlong".{{cite news |last=Lemire |first=Christy |author-link=Christy Lemire |url=http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2011/nov/21/review-scorseses-hugo-dazzles-in-3-d/all/ |title=Review: Scorsese's 'Hugo' dazzles in 3-D |newspaper=The San Diego Union-Tribune |date=2011-11-21 |access-date=2012-08-24 | agency=Associated Press}} Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune give it three stars and described it as "rich and stimulating even when it wanders," explaining "every locale in Scorsese's vision of 1931 Paris looks and feels like another planet. The filmmaker embraces storybook artifice as wholeheartedly as he relays the tale's lessons in the importance of film preservation."{{cite news |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2011/11/22/hugo-a-tribute-so-intense-it-needed-3-d-3-stars/ |work=Chicago Tribune |first=Michael |last=Phillips |author-link=Michael Phillips (critic) |title='Hugo' a tribute so intense, it needed 3-D—3 stars |date=2011-11-22 |access-date=2012-08-24}} Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal said that Hugo "visually ... is a marvel, but dramatically it's a clockwork lemon".{{cite news |first=Joe |last=Morgenstern |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970204443404577054623487923242 |title='Hugo': A Dazzler, but No Victor |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |author-link=Joe Morgenstern |access-date=2011-12-04 |url-access=subscription }}
Hugo was selected for the Royal Film Performance 2011 with a screening at the Odeon, Leicester Square, in London on 28 November 2011 in the presence of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall in support of the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund.{{cite journal |url=http://www.indielondon.co.uk/Film-Review/martin-scorsese-s-hugo-chosen-for-royal-film-performance |title=Martin Scorsese's Hugo chosen for Royal Film Performance |journal=IndieLondon |access-date=2011-12-04}} Richard Corliss of Time named it one of the Top 10 Best Movies of 2011, saying that "Scorsese's love poem, rendered gorgeously in 3-D, restores both the reputation of an early pioneer and the glory of movie history—the birth of a popular art form given new life through a master's application of the coolest new techniques".{{cite news |last=Corliss |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Corliss |title=The Top 10 Everything of 2011 – Hugo |url=http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2101344_2101362_2101352,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111208100942/http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2101344_2101362_2101352,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 8, 2011 |magazine=Time |access-date=2011-12-03 |date=2011-12-07}} James Cameron called Hugo "a masterpiece" and that the film "had the best use of 3D [he] had seen," surpassing even his own acclaimed films.{{cite news |last=Hammond |first=Pete |url=https://deadline.com/2011/11/hammond-scorseses-hugo-takes-hollywood-is-it-a-best-picture-contender-or-pretender-191689/ |title=Scorsese's 'Hugo' Takes Hollywood; Is It A Best Picture Contender—Or Pretender? |journal=Deadline Hollywood |date=2011-11-06 |access-date=2012-08-24}}
==Top-ten lists==
The film appeared on the following critics' lists of the top-ten films of 2011:
=Accolades=
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
{{wikiquote}}
- {{Official website|http://www.hugomovie.com/}}
- {{IMDb title|0970179|Hugo}}
- [https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/813138/enwp Hugo] at the TCM Movie Database
- {{rotten-tomatoes|hugo|Hugo}}
- {{Metacritic film|title=Hugo}}
- {{mojo title|hugocabret|Hugo}}
{{Martin Scorsese}}
{{John Logan}}
{{Johnny Depp}}
{{Georges Méliès}}
{{Navboxes
|title = Awards for Hugo
|list =
{{Academy Award Best Sound Editing}}
{{Academy Award Best Visual Effects}}
{{Austin Film Critics Association Award for Best Film}}
{{Mainichi Film Award for Foreign Film Best One Award}}
{{National Board of Review Award for Best Film}}
}}
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