In Paris in 1931, an orphan named Hugo Cabret who lives in the walls of a train station is wrapped up in a mystery involving his late father and an automaton.
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Determined to make her own path in life, Princess Merida defies a custom that brings chaos to her kingdom. Granted one wish, Merida must rely on her bravery and her archery skills to undo a beastly curse.
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Directors:
Steve Box,
Nick Park
Stars:
Peter Sallis,
Helena Bonham Carter,
Ralph Fiennes
Nineteen-year-old Alice returns to the magical world from her childhood adventure, where she reunites with her old friends and learns of her true destiny: to end the Red Queen's reign of terror.
Director:
Tim Burton
Stars:
Mia Wasikowska,
Johnny Depp,
Helena Bonham Carter
When the newly-crowned Queen Elsa accidentally uses her power to turn things into ice to curse her home in infinite winter, her sister Anna teams up with a mountain man, his playful reindeer, and a snowman to change the weather condition.
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Hugo is an orphan boy living in the walls of a train station in 1930s Paris. He learned to fix clocks and other gadgets from his father and uncle which he puts to use keeping the train station clocks running. The only thing that he has left that connects him to his dead father is an automaton (mechanical man) that doesn't work without a special key. Hugo needs to find the key to unlock the secret he believes it contains. On his adventures, he meets George Melies, a shopkeeper, who works in the train station, and his adventure-seeking god-daughter. Hugo finds that they have a surprising connection to his father and the automaton, and he discovers it unlocks some memories the old man has buried inside regarding his past.Written by
napierslogs
Like many, I suspect, I went into this film ready to be dazzled by the cinematography and a rare, nice clean story by Director Martin Scorcese. I wasn't disappointed although I found the story lagging in a few brief spots. Cutting the film another 10 minutes might have solved that. Having said that, though, a month later I'm all ready to view it again!
To me, the most interesting and amazing scenes were not involving the two young main characters and the railroad station, but the ones in the last 30-or-so minutes which dealt with very early films and how they made them. It was incredibly colorful and an education to film buffs everywhere. Anyone who loves movies and appreciates the history of the art should love the last part of this story.
Meanwhile, the bulk of the story still offers many great sights and sounds and I have no quibbles with any of the actors. Youngsters Asa Butterfield ("Hugo") and Cholë Grace Moretz ("Isabelle") were both about 13 when they made this and seem to have good careers ahead of them. I didn't recognize Sacha Baron Cohen as the station inspector. He was great in that role. As for Ben Kingsley, when is he ever bland?
This is one of those "family films" that can be enjoyed just as much - and probably more - by adults. I wish Scorcese would make more of this kind of material.
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Like many, I suspect, I went into this film ready to be dazzled by the cinematography and a rare, nice clean story by Director Martin Scorcese. I wasn't disappointed although I found the story lagging in a few brief spots. Cutting the film another 10 minutes might have solved that. Having said that, though, a month later I'm all ready to view it again!
To me, the most interesting and amazing scenes were not involving the two young main characters and the railroad station, but the ones in the last 30-or-so minutes which dealt with very early films and how they made them. It was incredibly colorful and an education to film buffs everywhere. Anyone who loves movies and appreciates the history of the art should love the last part of this story.
Meanwhile, the bulk of the story still offers many great sights and sounds and I have no quibbles with any of the actors. Youngsters Asa Butterfield ("Hugo") and Cholë Grace Moretz ("Isabelle") were both about 13 when they made this and seem to have good careers ahead of them. I didn't recognize Sacha Baron Cohen as the station inspector. He was great in that role. As for Ben Kingsley, when is he ever bland?
This is one of those "family films" that can be enjoyed just as much - and probably more - by adults. I wish Scorcese would make more of this kind of material.