The usually gritty Martin Scorsese gives us this family-oriented, yet-still-eerie tale, brimming with clockwork, steam trains, and the innocent wonder of children. Magical and dreamy like the old classics ("Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" and "Miracle on 34th Street" come to mind), but also surreal, edgy, and even a bit scary like "Willy Wonka" or "Wizard of OZ". Hugo's nightmare sequence is wonderfully chilling, but might be a bit much for very small children. That said, I did hear the soft voice of a 4ish-year-old respond in a self-assuring way, "Oh, he had a bad dream." That innocent sigh also reassured the rest of us that the shorties in the audience were fine with that bit of cinematic scary.

As with other Scorsese pieces, the film has elements of masterpiece, but also moments of sticky gears. But don't be late, the opening sequence is a beaut! It's a magical carpet ride above a snow-dusted Paris that decompresses audiences artfully from this century to an earlier time and then nestles into the bustling train station home of an orphaned boy. Caricatured duo's accent the flow of anonymous citizenry. These highlighted duets play like one-frame-comics from the Sunday Funnies and complement the storytelling well.

Ben Kingsley's contributions balance the picture mightily. Most of the acting has all the charm of classic British children's films. However, a scant few scenes don't flow nicely in the acting and/or direction department. Also, a handful of story-development holes pock this otherwise engaging adaptation. Probably difficult cuts were implemented as the picture already maxes out the typical kid's attention span with some rather "talk-dominate" scenes between the fun action and suspense.

Lastly, the film is a warm homage to early filmmakers, specifically George Melies.

As for the 3D … at the outset it enhances that beautiful opening sequence with a mystical polish. But as the story unravels the 3D becomes less relevant. Scorsese inserts some old war footage and either adds a 3D feel or scraped up some rare 3D footage from the period. The same is true for some of the Melies footage. Sadly, I think it's not something most people would notice or be tickled by. I noticed, appreciated the attempt, but wasn't knocked out by it. In sum, aside from that sweet preamble, Hugo should be just as charming in 2D.

A strong B+ or weak A-. I'll round up.

-- Books by Ross Anthony, Author/Illustrator --