History Film / Hugo

''Hugo'' is a 2011 adventure film directed by Creator/MartinScorsese, written by Creator/JohnLogan and produced by Creator/JohnnyDepp. It is based on the Caldecott Medal-winning children's novel ''The Invention Of Hugo Cabret'' by Brian Selznick, grandnephew of legendary film producer David O. Selznick. The film is notable for being Scorsese's first family-oriented film as well as his first shot in [[UsefulNotes/ThreeDMovie 3D]], and is considered Scorsese's love letter to [[SilenceIsGolden silent cinema]].

The film stars Creator/AsaButterfield as Hugo Cabret, an orphan boy who lives in a train station in 1930s Paris and whose only companion is an automaton discovered by his late father. He devotes his life to making sure the clocks run on time and to gradually repairing the automaton, under the belief that the message it is designed to write is a message from his father.

One day, he gets caught stealing a toy from Papa Georges (Sir Creator/BenKingsley), a melancholy man who runs a toy store inside the station. He finds the notebook Hugo carries containing drawings of the automaton by his father. Papa Georges takes the notebook, threatening to burn it. With the help of Papa Georges' goddaughter Isabelle (Creator/ChloeGraceMoretz), Hugo tries to get the notebook back and use it to discover the secret of the automaton. Along the way, he discovers the secret of Papa Georges, including his real name.

The film also stars Creator/SachaBaronCohen, Creator/ChristopherLee, Creator/JudeLaw, Creator/HelenMcCrory, Creator/RayWinstone, and [[Film/ASeriousMan Michael]] [[Series/BoardwalkEmpire Stuhlbarg]].

Brian Selznick also wrote a companion book to the film, ''The Hugo Movie Companion'', about how his novel was adapted to the screen.

''Hugo'' is a 2011 adventure film directed by Creator/MartinScorsese, written by Creator/JohnLogan and produced by Creator/JohnnyDepp. It is based on the Caldecott Medal-winning children's novel ''The Invention Of Hugo Cabret'' by Brian Selznick, grandnephew of legendary film producer David O. Selznick. It stars Creator/AsaButterfield as an orphan boy who lives in a train station in 1930s Paris and whose only companion is an automaton discovered by his late father. He devotes his life to making sure the clocks run on time and to gradually repairing the automaton, under the belief that the message it is designed to write is a message from his father.

Also starring Creator/SachaBaronCohen, Creator/ChristopherLee, Creator/JudeLaw, Creator/HelenMcCrory, Creator/RayWinstone, and [[Film/ASeriousMan Michael]] [[Series/BoardwalkEmpire Stuhlbarg]], it is notable for being Scorsese's first family-oriented film as well as his first shot in [[UsefulNotes/ThreeDMovie 3D]]. It is considered Scorsese's love letter to [[SilenceIsGolden silent cinema]].

One day, he gets caught stealing a toy from Papa Georges (Sir Creator/BenKingsley), a melancholy man who runs a toystore inside the station. He finds the notebook Hugo carries containing drawings of the automaton by his father. Papa Georges takes the notebook, threatening to burn it. With the help of Papa Georges' goddaughter Isabelle (Creator/ChloeGraceMoretz), Hugo tries to get the notebook back and use it to discover the secret of the automaton. Along the way, he discovers the secret of Papa Georges, including his real name.

* ClockPunk: The massive station clocktower, Papa George's clockwork toys, Hugo's old home filled with clockwork, the clockwork automaton, and the clockwork leg brace. The heavy use of fantastical clockwork can make one forget that the film is supposed to be set in a fairly realistic 1931 rather than a Victorian sci-fi setting.
* ColorWash: As in-universe AluminiumChristmasTrees: clips of old silent movies played in the film were hand-coloured, creating a dreamy, phantasmagoric atmosphere.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Despite often being a {{Jerkass}} and getting kicked in his injured leg, Gustav still helps Hugo off the train tracks.

* LighterAndSofter: Easily the lightest, most cheerful film ever directed by [[Creator/MartinScorsese Scorsese]], which is quite rare considering the usual content of his films. While it still has its fair share of dark moments, it's TV-PG and never goes beyond the TV-PG range of content.

* SilenceIsGolden: It's at least not nearly as talky as most children's holiday films are.
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Extremely idealistic, and easily the most optimistic film in Creator/MartinScorsese's body of work. Despite [[DarkAndTroubledPast the tragic pasts]] of most of the main characters, they all in some way or another romantics who dream big and hope for a happy ending, with [[AnAesop the ultimate moral being]] to share in each others' dreams.

One day, he gets caught stealing a toy from Papa Georges (Sir Creator/BenKingsley), a melancholy man who runs a toystore inside the station. He finds the notebook Hugo carries containing drawings of the automaton by his father. Papa Georges takes the notebook, threatening to burn it. With the help of Papa Georges' goddaughter Isabelle (Creator/ChloeMoretz), Hugo tries to get the notebook back and use it to discover the secret of the automaton. Along the way, he discovers the secret of Papa Georges, including his real name.

* AdaptedOut: Some minor characters, including Etienne (so that Hugo and
Isabelle could have more independence) and Hugo’s school friends Antoine and Louis.

* OrangeBlueContrast: Very much so. ''Just look at the poster!''

''Hugo'' is a 2011 adventure film directed by Creator/MartinScorsese, written by Creator/JohnLogan and produced by Creator/JohnnyDepp. It is based on the Caldecott Medal-winning children's novel ''Literature/TheInventionOfHugoCabret'' by Brian Selznick, grandnephew of legendary film producer David O. Selznick. It stars Creator/AsaButterfield as an orphan boy who lives in a train station in 1930s Paris and whose only companion is an automaton discovered by his late father. He devotes his life to making sure the clocks run on time and to gradually repairing the automaton, under the belief that the message it is designed to write is a message from his father.

%%* TheAlcoholic: Claude, Hugo's abusive uncle.

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Hugo's crimes are listed as: "Trespass, theft, pilfering, littering... [[EvenTheSubtitlerIsStumped mmmmlering]]... walking about... playing..."
** [[https://www.getyarn.io/yarn-clip/5e303de3-908b-4c36-9e4a-b5e4713a16a1 In later releases, the entry is revealed to be "pillorying"]], which is an archaic way to say public derision and the target is presumably Gustave himself.
%%* AscendedExtra: The Station Inspector in the book.

%%* BodyHorror: The dream in which Hugo turns into the automaton.

%%* CoolOldGuy: Despite setting himself as a GrumpyOldMan for the first half of the movie, Papa Georges turns out to be this. Also Monsieur Labisse, the bookstore owner.

%%* DeceasedParentsAreTheBest
%%* DreamWithinADream

%%* EarlyFilms: The movie's all about it.

%%* EpicTrackingShot: The opening sequence.

%%* TheFilmOfTheBook

%% * HeartwarmingOrphan: Hugo could contend to be the poster child for this trope; Isabelle to a lesser extent.

%%* IneffectualSympatheticVillain: The Station Inspector.
%%* InnocentBlueEyes: [[http://s930.photobucket.com/albums/ad146/MordredLullaby/?action=view¤t=tumblr_lvbrm69vSm1qiydaao1_500.gif Hugo.]]

* InsultMisfire: When Gustav yells at an orphan about his "filthy mitts," the policeman takes offense, thinking Gustav is making disparaging comments about his wife.

* MalignantPlotTumor: The movie looks like it will be about mechanics and trains (and the former does play an important part of the plot). But then Hugo mentions seeing [[TheFilmOfTheBook the film adaptation of a book]] and we eventually learn that this is really a movie about... movies. The transition is handled very well, as the film takes pains to show that a movie is like a machine with many moving parts.

%%** The TV commercials made it look like ''Literature/HarryPotter'' [[JustForFun/XMeetsY meets]] ''Film/{{Inception}}''.
* NightmareSequence: Hugo gets hit with two of them back-to-back. One involving [[spoiler: him getting hit by a train]] and the other where he [[spoiler: turns into an Automaton]]. It's a little... jarring.

%%* OrphansPlotTrinket: The automaton.
* OutOfFocus: Once Papa Georges is identified the story starts becoming more and more about him and less about Hugo in the latter portion of the film.

* ParentalBonus: At the end of the movie Gustav remarks that he is a "fully functioning man" and asks his girlfriend for corroboration.

%%* PuppyDogEyes: [[http://s930.photobucket.com/albums/ad146/MordredLullaby/?action=view¤t=tumblr_lwn0j7yQeJ1r6tldio1_500.jpg Hugo]].
%%* PuppyLove: Hugo and Isabelle. [[spoiler:Even when Hugo is adopted by Papa Georges at the end, the possible {{squick}} factor is still debatable since both kids are adopted.]]

%%* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Extremely Idealistic. Easily the most optimistic film in Scorsese's body of work.
%%* SmallSecludedWorld: The train station.

%%* SteamPunk

%%* TheThirties

%%* VertigoEffect: Right after the StaggeredZoom in the first dream sequence.

* VillainousFriendship: The Inspector seems to have one with the man who takes children to the orphanage, talking about his wife's leaving him, and later asks Gustav to be his child's godfather.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: At the end of the movie, even though [[spoiler:Papa Georges and Hugo have developed a close relationship, the notebook that Georges took from Hugo never turns back up]]. This is an artifact of adaptation compression; in the book, [[spoiler:Isabelle does manage to find it]]. It's somewhat debatable if the item is still relevant at that point.

%%* {{Bookworm}}: Isabelle.

* CuteBookworm: Isabella is a reader who is desired by Hugo.

* InnocentFlowerGirl: Lisette, who sells flowers in the train station.

%%* OrphansOrdeal

* LighterAndSofter: Easily the lightest, most cheerful film ever directed by [[Creator/MartinScorsese Scorsese]], which is quite rare considering its usual content. While it still has its fair share of dark moments, it's TV-PG and never goes beyond the TV-PG range of content.

%%* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: The Station Inspector, who is a straight-up villain in the original novel.

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: James Joyce, Django Reinhardt, Salvador Dalí and Creator/GeorgesMelies appear in the background.

* HeartwarmingOrphan: Hugo could contend to be the poster child for this trope; Isabelle to a lesser extent.

* HistoricalDomainCharacter:
%%** [[spoiler:Creator/GeorgesMelies]]
** James Joyce, Django Reinhardt and Salvador Dalí appear in the background.

* NeverTrustATrailer:
** The trailer makes it look like a light comedy, with lots of slapstick from Creator/SachaBaronCohen. Not the case.
** The TV commercials made it look like ''Literature/HarryPotter'' [[JustForFun/XMeetsY meets]] ''Film/{{Inception}}''.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hugo-poster_3787.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:[[Film/SafetyLast If you can guess what this comes from]], you have a taste of the movie already.]]

* AdaptationDistillation / AdaptationExpansion: Some parts of the book were streamlined and others were expanded to better suit it to the screen.
* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: The Station Inspector, who is a straight-up villain in the original novel.

* TheAlcoholic: Claude, Hugo's abusive uncle.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: According to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Melies#Early_film_career The Other Wiki,]] sets and costumes for Méliès' movies were painted in shades of gray (not in their natural colors, as depicted) to avoid unpredictable tones in black-and-white film. The film take artistic licenses with [[spoiler: Méliès' life. In reality, he sold his props to open a traditional theater, and his films are collected by the government to recycle for silver.]]
** The real Isabelle is called Madeleine, and actually Georges' biological grand-daughter. Jeanne is not Georges' first and only wife, however.
* AscendedExtra: The Station Inspector in the book.
* AscendedFanboy: Rene Tabard to [[spoiler: Georges Méliès]].

* BodyHorror: The dream in which Hugo turns into the automaton.
* {{Bookworm}}: Isabelle.
* BrokenBird: Several, all of whom Hugo manages to fix by the end of the movie.

* CatapultNightmare: When Hugo suffers his DreamWithinADream.
* ChildrenAreInnocent

* CoolOldGuy: Despite setting himself as a GrumpyOldMan for the first half of the movie, Papa Georges turns out to be this. Also Monsieur Labisse, the bookstore owner.
* CoolOldLady: Mama Jeanne.
* CostumePorn

* CoversAlwaysLie: The tagline spoils the plot, but only as a GeniusBonus: "One of the most legendary directors of our time" refers to Papa Georges' real identity.

* DeceasedParentsAreTheBest
* DreamWithinADream[=/=]DreamingOfThingsToCome: Hugo is having a nightmare where he gets killed by a train, which then derails and crashes through the station window. (The crash is based on a real one, and replicated in exact detail.) He has a false awakening in where he turns into the automaton. Then he wakes up for real. Later in the film, [[spoiler: Hugo jumps in front of an approaching train, after he drops the automaton onto the tracks. The train crew reacts exactly as they did in the dream, but the Station Inspector pulls Hugo off of the tracks, and the train doesn't crash.]]
* EarlyFilms: The movie's all about it.

* EpicTrackingShot: The opening sequence.

* TheFilmOfTheBook

* GayParee

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
** Gustav has several conversations with a policeman who believes his wife is pregnant with another man's child. Gustav even asks the man about the last time he had relations with his wife.
** When Gustav yells at an orphan about his "filthy mitts," the policeman takes offense, thinking Gustav is making disparaging comments about his wife.
** Gustav's nervous first conversation with flower girl Lisette includes references to cows with perfectly formed udders (made while cupping his hands in front of his own chest).
** At the end of the movie Gustav remarks that he is a "fully functioning man" and asks his girlfriend for corroboration.

** [[spoiler:Creator/GeorgesMelies]]

* IneffectualSympatheticVillain: The Station Inspector.
* InnocentBlueEyes: [[http://s930.photobucket.com/albums/ad146/MordredLullaby/?action=view¤t=tumblr_lvbrm69vSm1qiydaao1_500.gif Hugo.]]

* IShouldWriteABookAboutThis: Isabelle

* OrangeBlueContrast: Very much so.
** ''Just look at the poster!''
* OrphansOrdeal
* OrphansPlotTrinket: The automaton.

* ParentalAbandonment: Both Hugo and Isabelle's parents are deceased.

* PuppyDogEyes: [[http://s930.photobucket.com/albums/ad146/MordredLullaby/?action=view¤t=tumblr_lwn0j7yQeJ1r6tldio1_500.jpg Hugo]].
* PuppyLove: Hugo and Isabelle. [[spoiler:Even when Hugo is adopted by Papa Georges at the end, the possible {{squick}} factor is still debatable since both kids are adopted.]]

* SceneryPorn: Everything looks ''fantastic'', particularly the train station.

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Extremely Idealistic. Easily the most optimistic film in Scorsese's body of work.
* SmallSecludedWorld: The train station.

* SteamPunk

* TheThirties

* VertigoEffect: Right after the StaggeredZoom in the first dream sequence.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
** At the end of the movie, even though [[spoiler:Papa Georges and Hugo have developed a close relationship, the notebook that Georges took from Hugo never turns back up]]. This is an artifact of adaptation compression; in the book, [[spoiler:Isabelle does manage to find it]]. It's somewhat debatable if the item is still relevant at that point.

** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automaton#Renaissance_and_early_modern_Automatons Automata,]] clockwork robots that could perform pre-determined feats, have existed since the 16th century. Cruder automatons powered by levers and wind existed before that.

** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automaton#Renaissance and early modern Automatons,]] clockwork robots that could perform pre-determined feats, have existed since the 16th century. Cruder automatons powered by levers and wind existed before that.

** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automaton#Renaissance_and_Early_Modern_automata Automatons,]] clockwork robots that could perform pre-determined feats, have existed since the 16th century. Cruder automatons powered by levers and wind existed before that.