Hugo 2011

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: Bursting with earned emotion, Hugo is a mechanism that comes to life at the turn of a key in the shape of a heart. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Yes, "Hugo'' is a family film and, yes, your children and your inner child stand to be enraptured, but the family Scorsese really made this for is the 100-year-old tribe of watchers in the dark. Read more

Soren Anderson, Seattle Times: An endearing homage to a pioneering master of the movie medium, Georges Melies, from that most masterful modern-day moviemaker, Martin Scorsese. Read more

Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies: Aside from being one of Scorsese's most personal films, it's also one of the least cynical films of this or any other year. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: It's serious, beautiful, wise to the absurdity of life and in the embrace of a piercing longing. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: An odd combo of Babe: Pig in the City and Godard's Histoire(s) du cinema, Hugo is the strangest bird to grace the multiplex in a while. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: For all the wizardry on display, Hugo often feels like a film about magic instead of a magical film... Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Thematic potency and cinematic virtuosity -- the production was designed by Dante Ferretti and photographed by Robert Richardson -- can't conceal a deadly inertness at the film's core. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: It's a complex fusion of film history and personal history, filled with dazzling embellishments and unabashed sentiment about the glories of cinema. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: What Scorsese has really made is a beautifully crafted love letter to movies, the passion of his life. What sounded like an odd pairing winds up being a perfect fit. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Scorsese transforms this innocent tale into an ardent love letter to the cinema and a moving plea for film preservation. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: "Hugo" is big, and it exists mainly to dazzle, but its storytelling ambitions are more modest. I enjoyed it more than many a later Scorsese picture. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Hugo is a mixed bag but one well worth rummaging through. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Hugo is pure movie magic. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: A haunting, piquant melodrama about childhood dreams and yearnings, enhanced with a pleasant survey course in early film history. Read more

William Goss, Film.com: Arthur C. Clarke once wrote that 'any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.' It's a sentiment that Scorsese seems to have taken to heart... Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: A passionate brief for film preservation wrapped in a fanciful tale of childhood intrigue and adventure, Hugo dazzlingly conjoins the earliest days of cinema with the very latest big screen technology. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: "Films have the power to capture dreams," Melies said, and the way they've captured Scorsese's can't be denied. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: [It's] as much of a personal Scorsese picture as Raging Bull or Taxi Driver. In some ways, this could be his most heartfelt movie. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: Being a hardcore cinephile (like Scorsese) might add a layer of enjoyment, but it certainly isn't a prerequisite for walking in the door. A sense of wonder, however, is. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: Although it brings Scorsese together with people and techniques he hasn't worked with before, it also touches on themes close to his heart: the birth of cinema, and its preservation. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: In Hugo, the hero has a terrifying dream, perhaps an unconscious recollection of that event. Reality, filmed illusion, and dreams are so intertwined that only an artist, playing merrily with echoes, can sort them into a scheme of delight. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: This isn't a stuffy exercise for movie buffs. It's a real and touching story, full of childlike wonder. Read more

Andrew Lapin, NPR: As befitting both its fetishistically detailed source material and the era in which it's set, Hugo is Scorsese's most visually accomplished film. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: "Come and dream with me," a filmmaker pleads in Martin Scorsese's exquisite fantasy "Hugo," offering an invitation that's clearly extended from Scorsese himself. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: It's as if David Copperfield wandered into a History of Film lecture. Maybe it isn't a great idea to wait till you're nearly 70 to make your first kid movie. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: A state-of-the-art affair, an epic adaptation of Selznick's pretty-epic-itself tome, full of dazzling visuals and rapturous tributes to Melies and the magic of movies. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: It's a fairy tale for mature viewers, but the airy exterior hides emotional depth. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: One of the most magical viewing experiences of the decade so far. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: "Hugo" is unlike any other film Martin Scorsese has ever made, and yet possibly the closest to his heart: a big-budget, family epic in 3-D, and in some ways, a mirror of his own life. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Hugo emerges as a spectacular adventure for film lovers of all ages. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: I have seen the future of 3-D moviemaking, and it belongs to Martin Scorsese, unlikely as that may sound. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Ultimately, the biggest disappointment of Hugo is that it fails to make the case for 3-D as a legitimate tool for the serious filmmaker. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Scorsese's mad infatuation with films and filmmaking streams through every frame of this gorgeous adventure. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Scorsese's "Hugo" is a hugely ambitious and wholly satisfying feat. It's a living lesson in movie magic wrapped in a classic kiddie flick. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Scorsese's film is a richly illustrated lesson in cinema history and the best argument for 3-D since James Cameron's Avatar. Read more

Cath Clarke, Time Out: It might be curtains for celluloid, but Scorsese, a boyish 69, clearly isn't leaving the stage any time soon. He directs every film with the passion of his first. And it shows. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Movie magic hangs in the air of Martin Scorsese's Hugo, much like the steam and dust that fills almost every frame. Read more

USA Today: A wondrous blend of fantasy and mystery that will appeal to adults as well as children. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: In attempting to make his first film for all ages, Martin Scorsese has fashioned one for the ages. Read more

Karina Longworth, Village Voice: A personal statement disguised as a sellout. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: If ever the movie gods were to smile on an adaptation, it would be Scorsese's take on Selznick's bestselling book, a valentine to the cinematic artists whose work the filmmaker has toiled so tirelessly to champion and preserve. Read more