Movie · 2011 · Adventure, Drama, Family · 2h 6m · PG · English
Curator score: 6.2/10 (796.1K ratings)
One of the most legendary directors of our time takes you on an extraordinary adventure.
Overview
Orphaned and alone except for an uncle, Hugo Cabret lives in the walls of a train station in 1930s Paris. Hugo's job is to oil and maintain the station's clocks, but to him, his more important task is to protect a broken automaton and notebook left to him by his late father. Accompanied by the goddaughter of an embittered toy merchant, Hugo embarks on a quest to solve the mystery of the automaton and find a place he can call home.
Ratings
Curator score: 6.2/10
IMDb: 7.5/10
Letterboxd: 3.51/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 93%
Metacritic: 83
TMDB: 7.2/10
Director
Martin Scorsese
Production
GK Films, Infinitum Nihil
Cast
Asa Butterfield, Ben Kingsley, Chloë Grace Moretz, Sacha Baron Cohen, Ray Winstone, Emily Mortimer, Christopher Lee, Helen McCrory, Michael Stuhlbarg, Frances de la Tour, Richard Griffiths, Jude Law, Kevin Eldon, Gulliver McGrath, Shaun Aylward, Emil Lager, Angus Barnett, Edmund Kingsley, Max Wrottesley, Marco Aponte
Curator Review
Verdict
A lush, heartfelt adventure that doubles as a love letter to cinema, Hugo is one of Scorsese’s most tender and visually inventive films. Its mystery plot is simple, but the atmosphere, craftsmanship, and emotional payoff make it especially rewarding for viewers who enjoy wonder, nostalgia, and stories about the power of movies and memory.
Best for
fans of cinematic tributes and film history
viewers who like warm, visually rich family adventures
people drawn to orphan-hero mysteries and hidden-world stories
audiences who appreciate emotional, craft-forward filmmaking
Skip if
you want a fast-paced adventure with constant action
you dislike sentimental or overtly sentimental storytelling
you prefer grounded realism over fairy-tale atmosphere
you are not interested in meta-cinema or film-history themes
Overview
Hugo is a rare studio film that feels both intimate and monumental. Scorsese uses 3D, clockwork machinery, steam, and glass to build a Paris that feels enchanted without losing its melancholy, and the result is one of his most purely expressive works. The story begins as a child’s mystery, but it gradually opens into something larger: a meditation on grief, invention, and the fragile history of cinema itself.
Worth noting
What makes it resonate is the sincerity. The film never treats its love of movies as a gimmick; it treats cinema as a living memory machine, a place where wonder survives because people preserve it. That emotional idea is carried by the production design and visual effects as much as by the performances, which give the film a gentle, bruised warmth.
Bottom line
It can feel a little overstuffed in its setup, and some viewers may find the pacing more patient than they expect from an adventure film. But if you respond to movies about movies, or to stories where a lonely child finds connection through curiosity and art, Hugo is deeply rewarding.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Karsten (4★) · 2624 likes
I have a canker sore on my left tonsil. Every time I move anything, eat anything, or swallow it feels like someone is stabbing my throat. Based on past experiences I’m assuming I got it because of stress. It’s finals week, I’m applying for internships, I’m in the midst of pre-production for a short film I’m shooting in a few weeks, and I’m trying to find time to watch all of Scorsese’s films.
My mind is a tornado right now… more
Logan Kenny (5★) · 1869 likes
one of the only movies about “the magic of the movies” that actually captures just how miraculous cinema can be. a way for us to connect together, even just for a few hours, to see worlds and images that were considered impossible. it moves me beyond words to know that one of cinema’s greatest treasurers made a film for kids about how beautiful the artwork is, creating the same effect for an entire generation that he received from old prints in a library. we come to movies on our own paths through life but what matters is that we’re all here now, together, united by celluloid.
Levi (3.5★) · 1319 likes
Where were all the French people?
mulaney (4.5★) · 829 likes
"if you've ever wondered where your dreams come from, you look around. this is where they're made."
Sabrina 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ (4★) · 737 likes
Asia Buttersfield or whatever the fuck his name is looks like an alien.