The Invention of Hugo Cabret

A good story. It would be three stars, but the illustrations are worth one star all their own, especially the ones of the bookstore. I was surprised at how close the movie kept to the book, with the exception of the Station Inspector's character. The one thing that bothers me is that the reason for Papa Georges's anguished bitterness about his lost career isn't really clear. I think the movie kind of hinted at the Great War as being part of the reason, which makes sense, but in the book it seemed to be more about increased competition in movie-making that resulted in him being “forced” to sell his films so they could be made into something so banal and ignoble as shoe-heels. A little heavy-handed and pretty silly when you think about World War 2 on its way in a few years when selling some films to keep soldiers in boots would be well worth the sacrifice. Well, that's a bit sanctimonious and blowhardy of me, I guess; the story takes place in the early thirties, so whatever, Laura. Maybe the idea is just that it is torture for a great artist not to be able to fulfill their purpose, and for all I know that is entirely plausible; not being a great artist I wouldn't know.