Completed: Hugo in 3d (spoilers)

Originally published January 7, 2012 on tumblr


first…. sitting in a theater when your back/leg/arm hurt is a bad idea…. you would think it would be fine cause your not moving but see that’s the problem. you can’t really move and your kind of limited to the way you can sit…

Second… i HATE 3d

Third the only option to see it not in 3d was about an hour away…. and this was a spur of the moment thing my family decided so we didn’t want to go very far.

Okay i think that sets the stage for this fairly jaded review…. granted being in a better mood would not change the fact that this movie isn’t very good.

so yeah…. guess that's my shortened TL; DR.

anyways…. a while ago… a month or two out of nowhere came trailers for a really interesting looking movie called hugo

no one seemed to know much about it or what it was about but every agreed that it had an interesting look.

I was really looking forward to seeing it, i avoided reviews that could cloud my opinion and potentially spoil things.. i went into only having heard that many people feel like it was two separate films.

And after having seen it yeah… it feels like two movies.

the first half deals with a boy named Hugo running around the walls of the Paris train station making sure all the clocks are wound, That he manages to steal enough food to live and that he gets some spare parts for this clockwork puppet (automaton? i think that's what they called it) eventually he gets caught and a man makes him empty his pockets…. he just has some spare parts and a notebook…. after a quick flip through the book the man gets very upset and tries to get the kid caught by the guard.

ah but this kid is stubborn, after giving the guard the slip he goes back to the man and demands his notebook.

of course the man is stubborn two and brings it back and claims he’s going to burn it.
he follows him home and bumps into the mans god daughter whom he befriends.

then he goes back… tries to fix his doll and tries to get the notebook back…. we find out the book and the doll are the last remaining things he has that belonged to his dad who died by plot…. i mean fire. We find out he has been taken in by his crummy uncle who winds the clocks in the station…. but the mans a drunk and with hugo around now he can go off drinking.

so now he hangs out with the god daughter and they pretend like things are adventures and he eventually shows her the doll, she has a key that fits in the back and they turn it
and then the film changes.

i have a feeling many things end up on the cutting room floor…. because so much is unresolved from this point.

we find out the old man who took the notebook was the one who made the doll, he’s also an accomplished filmmaker, and an artist but for some reason (film blames the war…. i blame Thomas Edison) he had to give up making films, melt down all his film to make soles for shoes and with the little bit of money he made from selling the film he buys a toy shop….

but through hope and caring and whatever other positive feeling you want to shove in he realizes remembering the past isn’t so bad and they find that many of his films weren’t destroyed and now they are honouring him and he just wishes he still had the doll he made

so then hugo goes “i’ll brb” and runs off and oh no he gets caught by the guard who enjoys sending orphans to the orphanage. oh but he goes free cause he’s good at tinkering…. then he runs away but there's a chase and then he gets the doll but just as he’s about to be free he gets caught again and the doll goes flying onto the railroad

but this is a family movie so that doesn’t end badly and the man who took the notebook (which is never brought up again unless i missed something when i went to the washroom) says “oh he’s my child now so you can’t send him to the orphanage : ( sorry for you” and all is happily every after.
so yeah…. may as well start off with a positive.

i liked the look of this film…. it felt very steampunk with some of the designs.
….. um… yeah that's really it.

now why did i dislike this film

again…. i HATE 3d…. and whats worse… this film had no business being shot in 3d, would i have enjoyed it more in 2d? probably not but at least i would have been able to look at it without getting a migraine. let me clarify that i can watch 3d that's done well… this 3d wasn’t done well… too many things that were out of focus that my eye wanted to focus on…. too many things trying to come close to the screen and when you have really quick shots it really screws with your head in 3d… plus the film can get really dark… 3d films need to be bright and colourful.

The story isn’t very good…. this film is around 2 hours but it felt like 4…. i didn’t care about any of the side characters and honestly their presence wasn’t needed at all. Hugo as a character is interesting but the film isn’t about him…. it’s about papa George (guy who took the notebook) and how he was such an important part of the film making process. Hugo’s only purpose is the fix the doll and be adorable but in all truth he really isn’t the focus of the story.

This film does have a really cool look but it’s still an art film… which can be find but i don’t tend to like them… they have their place but just cause something it artsy doesn’t make it good… you need things like plot and character to have a good artsy film.

and i was so looking forward to this film… that’s probably whats got me the most upset…. i was looking forward to this…. and it was just such a disappointment.

alright…. think i have bitched enough for one night, i’m sure many people will like this film… it got 94% on rotten tomatoes. hell people are even saying the 3d was done well… yeah watch the running through the crowd scene and tell me it doesn’t make your eyes hurt. I think it’s mainly got such a high rating cause

a) it’s an art film… critics love art films

b) it’s Martin Scorsese… critics love Martin Scorsese… and after a quick glance at his filmography i can see i don’t like a lot of his film….that's just my personal opinion

c) it is, as many people have said, a love letter to cinema… and that aspect i liked but it did feel a bit forced at times

So yeah… i’m biased…. i like what i like and i didn’t like this…. sure others did and that’s fine i’m hoping once the hype goes away people will realize hey maybe it’s not as good as you first thought.
Or maybe it is just as good as you remember and i’m just wrong and that’s fine too.

Edit: i hear a lot of people bitching about the fact that it’s a family film and i didn’t make that clear (cause i wrote this just before midnight) that i didn’t care that it was a family film… there were a lot of children in the theater and you know what that made me happy cause it means they weren’t seeing crap like Chipwreked or whichever flavor of the week kid film that's just dull and stupid. my issue was mainly with the execution of the plot, the main character not really being the main character (i have this issue with a few films) and the 3d which i don’t care how many people say it was done well…. my migraine begs to differ.

double edit fun time: according to the oscars and the fact that this film nearly swept the show.... i am apparently the only human being on the face of the planet that feels this film isn't terribly good... hm...