Orphan, Clock Keeper, and Thief, twelve-year-old Hugo lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station, where his survival depends on secrets and anonymity. But when his world suddenly interlocks with an eccentric girl and the owner of a small toy booth in the train station, Hugo’s undercover life, and his most precious secret, are put in jeopardy. A cryptic drawing, a treasured notebook, a stolen key, a mechanical man, and a hidden message all come together…in The Invention of Hugo Cabret.
This book jacket copy of Brian Selznick’s 2007 YA novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret is a most fitting synopsis for the just released film adaptation of the book. Selznick’s Caldecott award winning novel, the first novel to win this illustrator’s award, is above all things a love letter to classic film maker Georges Melies, whose iconic film images are likely to be familiar even to those of you who have no knowledge of Georges Melies. The Invention of Hugo Cabret is described by its creator as “not exactly a novel, not quite a picture book, not really a graphic novel, or a flip book or a movie, but a combination of all these things”.
Selznick’s novel was a brilliantly inventive work intricately pieced together with both prose and pictures. Despite its massive outward appearance it was a quick and delightful read and though I was late to the party, reading it a year after its release, I joined the large number of people who declared it one of their favorite books of the year. Needless to say, despite the stunning trailer, I was worried about how this creative work would translate to the medium by which it was inspired.
In the capable hands of Martin Scorsese, it translated just fine.
While I fully recognize the genius that is Martin Scorsese, it wasn’t until last year’s adaptation of Shutter Island that I could point to a film helmed by the master that I truly enjoyed. By and large the heavy, dark subject matter of his films have not generated a great deal of interest for me. However, it is the very nature of Scorsese’s oeuvre that makes this adaptation work for adults in the way some Young Adult books do: it has the pacing and the sensibilities of an adult film which hopefully will also capture the hearts and minds of the young adults for whom the book was written. I say “hopefully” because I am waiting with interest to see how this film will connect with a younger audience. As I sat through Hugo what surprised me the most was that it was not a film tailor made to tug at the heart strings in the same way that many “made for kids” films do. That is not to say that the film isn’t filled with warm sentiment, as it does have its feel good moments. Perhaps the best way to try to explain my feelings is that as I watched the film I was aware of its quiet charm and sometimes heavy pacing and when I was reminded in the closing credits that it was a film by Martin Scorsese my first thought was, “ah, now that makes perfect sense”. However the film ultimately does with younger audiences remains to be seen. From my own personal experience in the theater Friday afternoon, I have to say it has a strong draw for adults. The mostly full theater I saw the film in was better than 80% filled with adult viewers.
Selznick’s book was in part a visual homage to film and as such it translates wonderfully into the medium. Hugo is beautiful film to behold, especially in the labyrinthine workings of the clocks in the Paris train station that is the film’s setting, and orphaned Hugo’s home. Having come home to read the glowing praise of the film on the website Rotten Tomatoes, I am kicking myself that I didn’t spend the extra few dollars to see this film in 3-D. As I was not aware of any gimmicky 3-D shots in the standard film, I suspect that the beautifully imagined sets and old-world Paris were even more brilliant since it was shot in 3-D.
With an uncanny Elijah Wood appearance, young Asa Butterfield is called on to carry the film and he does so marvelously. He is able to convey mood and emotion with just his facial expressions in ways that not all adult actors have perfected. The surrounding cast, including an heart-tugging performance by Ben Kingsley as Georges Melier and an uncharacteristically sweet performance by Christopher Lee, was superb.
I hesitate to say much else regarding the film other than to say that it is well worth putting on the list of things to do with your family this holiday season. Hugo is a feel good movie that avoids being overly sentimental and at the same time will open your eyes to a real, intriguing historical figure in the medium of film who has not had the exposure that his imagination and invention deserves. Georges Melies was not only a creative film maker but was an inventor/perfecter of cameras and various automata, one of which is a central character in Selznick’s story.
Hugo is an adaptation that does its novel proud and is well worth viewing on the big screen.
So glad to hear that the movie lives up to the book. When I first heard it was being made into a movie, my thought was “But it doesn’t need to be a movie.” I’ve changed my mind with all the positive hype the movie’s been getting and with your trusted opinion can now see it’s a perfect book for a movie.
I feel that way about most books to be honest, and had this never been made into a film I certainly would not have minded. And of course I benefit from the fact that it has been over 3 years since I’ve read the book, so I honestly don’t know what might have been added to or taken away from the story. I am pleased that it is getting such positive reviews.
I’m so glad to hear this is good! The trailer worried me a little. It looked like it would be less elegant and more kid-cheesy. I didn’t read Huge Cabret until last year, but I adored it and am really looking forward to seeing this now.
The trailer does make it look a little mad-cap, which surprised me when the film wasn’t like that at all. To be honest part of my curiosity regarding how children might respond to this is that (although I myself liked the trailer) the trailer does not exactly deliver the movie in the way promised.
This film got the highest ratings and strongest reviews of any film currently showing here. The 3-D was especially praised, saying it is “simply stunning” and “the best, perhaps better, than Avatar”. It’s on our definitely see in the theater list and we don’t go often. We’ll probably wait until the Thanskgiving crowds have gone, but need to go before the Christmas vacation families (read that as “kids”) fill the halls. Timing is everything. But wait, perhaps I should just read the book????
Its quite an interesting book, Richard. I’ve read similar things about the 3-D which again really disappoints me that I didn’t see it that way. Timing is indeed everything.
Oh, one more thing, I’m still just a ? mark in the posts, and wonder why.
I suspect the latest WordPress update is interacting with the blog theme for some reason and James and I have both been too busy to really look into it. Hopefully we’ll get it all fixed soon.
Looks like these are fixed now. It was because of a WordPress update. Thanks again for pointing this out as I hadn’t noticed.
I’m hoping to see this soon, so I’m glad to hear it’s good. I haven’t actually read the book (yet), but the trailer really appealed to me.
I hope you get a chance to partake of them both and enjoy them both.
Z and I are reading this together as our bedtime story right now (it’s my second read of it) and then we will see the film. I’m not sure if I will take him to the theater because I don’t want him to be bored. He is, after all, only seven! But he seems to be really intrigued by the automaton and by Hugo’s unique life.
It would be a fun book to read together with kids. I would be really surprised if a 7 year old would stay engaged in this film.
I was skeptical of this film, even though I’m a Scorsese fan, but the trailer didn’t impress me (though at the time my mind was elsewhere because the one time I saw it was waiting for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2). I was impressed with the book when I flipped through it and put it on the TBR list for me and my daughter. But if it’s getting positive reviews, as well as the 3D version, I’ll have to see this with my family.
If you are a Scorsese fan I’d be interested in your assessment of his abilities with a children’s film. I don’t consider myself a fan but I was impressed with what he did with this.
I wish I had known you were going to this one and I would have gave you the see it in 3-D advice. I had read several things already about this movie online especially over on the aint cool news site where they gave it the thumbs as well.
I for one didn’t like the trailer but am glad to hear you liked it. The kids haven’t expressed any interest in seeing this movie though so I’ll have to try and nudge them to go see it. They are much more focused on seeing Warhorse and Sherlock 2 plus Ashley want to see Twlight 3 ( gag me 🙂 )
The joys of having teenage girls during the Twilight phenomenon! Glad I didn’t have to deal with that.
Can’t wait for Sherlock 2. That is going to be a fun one.
I wish I had paid more attention. I usually at least skim a few Rotten Tomatoes reviews but since I had my mind made up about this one I just didn’t do it. It’s my own fault for not doing so.
Since this is a hardcover, and I don’t want to spend that kind of money, I looked for this at the library. They have two audiobooks, one copy in Spanish and lots of copies in English, but there is a very lengthy waiting list: over 100 holds for about 30 copies. So who knows when it will show up. I see it’s listed as “a story in words and pictures” and is in the children’s section. Is it a children’s picture book? I thought it was a novel.
I would classify it as a novel. It is much closer to a picture book with more than your normal amount of words for a picture book. It looks like a huge book when you see it but you will blaze through it in one sitting I’m guessing. I don’t remember it taking me more than a sitting or two to finish it I believe. I can’t remember exactly now though as it was a couple of years ago that I read it. It’s one of those books I think you will enjoy for the artwork and what the writer expresses with it.
Argh! I mean’t to say I WOULDN’T classify it as a novel.
It didn’t feel like a kids book to me though. I felt it was geared more to adults myself or older more mature kids of which I classify myself. 🙂
It is a combination of a prose novel and a picture book. The story has large chunks that are told with a series of successive picture images with no words, but also large chunks of written story as well. It is certainly a novel, but also has that added illustrated element.
I don’t remember it having enough text to qualify it as a novel maybe a short story or novella but not novel length. I guess I need to look up it’s word count online. Hmm…
I looked on Wikipedia for a word count on the novel. I didn’t find one but I found this information which doesn’t clear up anything at all. 🙂
” With 284 pictures between the book’s 533 pages, the book depends equally on its pictures as it does the actual words. Selznick himself has described the book as “not exactly a novel, not quite a picture book, not really a graphic novel, or a flip book or a movie, but a combination of all these things.” ” in quotes information is from Wikipedia entry on the novel.
It is actually almost an exact even split according to the great font of knowledge that is Wikipedia. 250 pages of text certainly qualifies as a novel in my book, although even the author admits that it pretty much defies classification since it is such a mash up of types of story telling. Which is telling considering it won an award for its illustrations, and is considered the only novel to have ever done so.
Thanks, Jeff. I appreciate your insight on this. I think I’ll go see the flick first, then decide if I want to follow up with the book.
No problem. I’ll be curious to see what you think of it as well especially if you see it in 3-D.
I am so happy to hear that this is good! I really want to see it at some point. 🙂
Hope you get to soon. 🙂
I am torn about this one. I am a Scorsese fan. However, for some reason this film does not appeal to me. I can’t put my finger on it. And I keep hearing so many glowing reports about it. I think one of the things that is putting me off is that it is in 3D. I am so tired of 3D. I know you wish you saw it in 3D but I just hate it. Avatar was amazing for the special effects, but the story line was boring for me. But ever since that film, everything is in 3D. In fact I heard they were remaking the Great Gatsby in 3D. I will take your words into consideration when making movie choices this holiday season.
I’m not a big fan of 3-D either, but there is certainly a difference between something that is filmed in 3-D, like Avatar, which gives it more depth and clarity and the mostly gimmicky 3-D stuff that has come out since which is merely ways for directors to film things that look like they are coming at the camera. I didn’t notice any of that in Hugo, so I suspect the 3-D just gives the whole thing more depth and I would have loved to have seen it that way.
I would certainly recommend picking up the book much more than I would seeing the movie. I have no idea how well the story translates for those not familiar with the book. I was able to fill in gaps and have a more rounded experience because I knew much of the basic story, which clouds my view of the film.
I’ve seen the book in the store and it has always tempted me. Maybe I’ll take your advice and stick with the book. There hasn’t been too many cases that I preferred the movie over the book. The only one I can think of is Silence of the Lambs.
Yes, if you are going to do one over the other I’d stick with the book. And certainly there is no reason to see the film in 3-D unless you are looking for that extra visual kick. The movie doesn’t ever look like the kind of film where they did a bunch of 3-D gimmicks. Still, I like the better visual quality and wish I had seen it that way.
I have not read this book yet, but I did buy a copy a few weeks ago to read with my daughter.
But we did see the movie this weekend and were enchanted. My daughter’s just turned 9 and she ranks it higher than the animated films we’ve seen lately, but then she’s always preferred live-action films. There were not many kids in the theatre — whether a kid will like it I think depends less on age than on disposition.
We have since started to read the book together. The book and film are remarkably similar (to the point we’re at, anyway).
Not sure about the 3d. There was nothing gimicky about it, the 3d was very “subtle” — I mean, it wasn’t a series of effects, it was an immersion. But the sets looked sumptuous enough that the movie would stand just as well without 3d.
“Immersion” is a great way to describe it. That is the way Avatar was and I imagine from the comments that your description is very apt.
So glad to hear from someone whose child saw it. I agree with you in that it probably does have more to do with disposition, although at the same time I think what I appreciated about Hugo was that Scorsese avoided a lot of the antics that are typical in a movie geared for younger children. The impression that the trailer gives with the policeman and dog chasing Hugo is that the film will be antic-filled, thus I was pleasantly surprised that it was much more serious and more enchanting and relied less on slapstick and pratfalls to engage the audience.
wonderful review. I am hoping to get to this film sooner than later, but the budget may go to The Muppets–not something I would admit to a certain film professor under whom I took a term on Scorsese (the early years)…Yeah, that was a dark term, very violent and lots of young Harvey Keitel and Robert DeNiro.
Wow, yes, Asa does look like Elijah Wood, and to his benefit in the emotive face department.
Natalya watched the film. She said it was wonderful. She’s not the most impatient film-watcher, so I’ll have to ask her directly about how she felt about the pacing. Notably, she didn’t like the book; so the film sounds win-win as she found that the translation onto screen held her interest better.
John Stewart interviewed Scorsese (fairly recently) about the film, which was fun. In it, Scorsese shared that he decided to make something his daughter could watch, and his family had been telling him that book was just the thing (a favorite of theirs). and it makes sense. Scorsese has a great love of film history and its preservation.
Thanks for sharing that about the interview. I hope his daughter was pleased with the result, her father did a really good job with this.
I’d be really curious to know what your daughter thought about it in comparison to other movies marketed to the same age group.
I’m going to see the new Muppet film with my wife tomorrow night. Certainly says something about how big an influence it was on our lives that we are choosing to see that for our date night movie.
she didn’t feel deceived by the trailers. it sounded magical, but not high adventure [more, the secret garden, or the little princess]; course, she’d also read the book, so… She did say the older kids will have the patience for when it does slow, but younger kids, especially those that only watch high activity films will probably be bored.
she was evidently drawn in, she was quite opinionated about how frustrating/annoying she found the girl character and the way she treated the boy.
Have fun at The Muppets. I think it an excellent choice for a date night.:)
We will, I am really looking forward to it.
So glad to hear that it’s worth going to see, we don’t get until next week in the UK, I’ve been looking forward to going to see it.
Normally I would feel bad about you having to wait, but since I am currently waiting for The Awakening to come over here and its already out in the UK, I am feeling less sympathetic. 😉
I ADORED this movie, and the book is now on my TBR pile. I don’t know that I remember ever hearing of the book prior to this film’s release (I used to do a better job keeping up with YA books, etc.). I loved how this was a love letter to classic film, to the power of dreams and imagination, and to the idea of family and belonging. Great review!
Glad to hear it Ruth. Will be interesting to see what you think of the book now that you’ve seen the film.
Don’t feel bad, I just can’t keep up with anything anymore. There are just, thankfully, too many books that I want to read.