I don’t have a lot to say about Hugo.  It was a good movie, I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t anything like what I was expecting, and did not even vaguely live up to my expectations.

Spoilers ahead.

I didn’t know anything about the book the movie is based on, “The Invention of Hugo Cabret.”  The trailer led me to believe that this was a fantasy about an orphan boy who completed building his father’s automaton.  I based that mainly on the train running through the train station, the automaton, and Isabelle’s line about having an adventure.  Seemed like it had to be a fantasy.

It wasn’t a fantasy at all.

It was the story of an orphan who finished repairing an automaton that his father found, and helped a filmmaker turned toymaker rediscover the films he made in his youth.

Okay, that’s a little simplified, but that’s about it.  Yeah…kind of a let down.

It was incredibly well acted.  Asa Butterfield and Chloë Moretz were amazing as Hugo and Isabelle (though it’s hard to think of Moretz in any other role than Hit-Girl from Kick-Ass) and had a superb supporting cast that included, Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Christopher Lee, Richard Griffiths, and Jude Law.

Over all, it was quite enjoyable, just not what I was expecting.  I did rather enjoy all the old movie bits, though I’m not certain how many of them were vintage and how many were recreated for the movie.

I did learn something.  One of the first movies ever made was 1 minute long and showed a train arriving at a station.

Oh…and the train running through the station…that was just a dream sequence.  Pity.

Thanks for reading!