Hugo

Martin Scorcese, famous for gritty, violent gangsters and making Robert DeNiro a star suddenly turns away from 30+ years of entertaining adults to try his hand at a kids film.

A young orphan is convinced mending an old automata he has will deliver a message for him from his dad but to do that he must fix it. This of course means making a new friend who can help, unravelling clues and outwitting grumpy grown ups. So far so formulaic. Which it is, but in a positive way. The film is crafted with a passion for all the delight cinema can deliver, shining with the tradition of the craft and making the old feel new.

As with films like Amélie and Mic Macs, Paris is a perfect location for the adventure, an element of fantasy seemingly infused into every real location.

I can't convince myself the 3D filming was necessary but there were points where it did at least interest me and since the second half of the film revels in depicting filmmaking of the early 20th century it is at least appropriate.

To call this a kids film is perhaps doing it an injustice. I wonder if it might not be more engrossing to grown ups than kids, especially with a very sedate opening. Either way, a great example of quality story telling that you should enjoy aged 9 or 90.