Oscar Watch: "Hugo"

"Hugo"
Starring: Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Asa Butterfield
Director: Martin Scorcese

"Hugo" is an homage to the era of silent films, but different in style to the other silent era tribute, "The Artist." It's the story of a boy, Hugo (Butterfield), who lives alone in a train station managing the clocks, while stealing parts in his spare time for a secret project. We later discover that said project is a automaton, a robot that can perform complex tasks. This robot could draw pictures. Complicating things is Papa Georges (Kingsley), who owns a small toy shop, and is opposed to Hugo after he catches him stealing. However, Hugo befriends Georges's goddaughter, and after finding that she owns the key to activate the automaton, they turn it on. And it draws pictures. The film deals with the repercussion of those pictures, and Georges is revealed to be a silent film director in the past, and is actually based on a real film director, Georges Méliès.

The film itself was decent, but not captivating enough for me, not even in 3D. I didn't get the sense that there was any significant emotional weight to what was going on. Sure, Georges is upset because he lost his film studio, and it's nice to see him happy at the end. But unless one is a fan of his films or of the silent film era, which I am not, I think it's not as meaningful. The acting was fine, nothing overtly stellar, but nothing bad either. The 3D itself was a nice touch, but nothing more.

Overall, "Hugo" just did not do it for me. "The Artist" was a much better homage to that era, because it made you feel like you were there, watching a silent film back in the 1920s. "Hugo" got a lot of critical acclaim, and it was a decent film, but to someone who's not a huge fan of the silent film era, it wasn't anything special.