Martin Scorsese, the director of iconic films like “Goodfellas,” “Cape Fear” and “Gangs of New York,” has made his first children’s movie, “Hugo.”  

While “Hugo” is a great standalone film, Scorsese adapts his style of direction to a new genre that could be a let down to his avid fans.

“Hugo” was based off of Brian Selznick's novel the “Invention of Hugo Cabret.”  The movie, like the book follows, Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) a 12-year-old orphaned boy who tinkers with clocks.

As the movie progresses, you learn of his sad childhood, how his father died (Jude Law) and he was left with his drunkard uncle who manages the clocks at the railway station Gare du Nord.    

Before abandoning Hugo, his uncle teaches him to manage the clocks in the railway.  This allows Hugo to survive by living in the walls of the railway station, fixing the clocks and stealing food from local vendors.  

Hugo spends most of his day trying to repair an automaton, a mechanical man who can write with a pen that his dad left him before he died with a notebook of instructions on how to fix it.  

He steals parts to fix the automaton from a local toy dealer, Georges Melies, until he is caught one day and Melies angrily takes the notebook.  

 

In order to recover the notebook, Hugo follows Melies home and meets his goddaughter Isabelle (Chloë Grace Moretz). Together the two work to fix the automaton and discover her godfather's secret past. 

While long Hugo is a beautiful film that truly highlights Scorsese's talent as a director.  

He changed his style of directing to fit a children’s movie.  In some ways the film deviates from traditional Scorsese and in other ways it shows his ability to adapt and change to a new genre. 

The choice of using 3D was questionable.  Scorsese is a director who focuses on dialogue driven films with beautiful cinematography in which any shot could be easily identified as a Scorsese shot.  

However because of the 3D in Hugo, Scorsese’s unique style of directing isn't as apparent. This is due to the overblown visuals which turns it more into a blend between Scorsese and Tim Burton.  

This does not make Hugo a bad movie but, rather something new for the director that expands his film repertoire.  

So to the general public the movie is a standalone gem with beautiful visuals and a wonderful plot but for an avid Scorsese fan the film might fall short.

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