Hugo

Randy took me to see Hugo on Saturday. I have not yet read the book, but am planning to request it from the library. It is by Brian Selznick. The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Has anyone read this? I have some questions...I finally understood that war they were speaking of was WWI, and the book/film takes place in 1930's Paris.

Georges is the owner of a little toy store with all kinds of little windup toys and he is a retired magician. He lives alone with his wife and ward, Isabelle.

Why did Georges Melies tell Hugo that he burned the little notebook and hand him the ashes in a handkerchief? Here is this austere, mean, bitter man....taking the notebook and then telling Hugo he burned it! It is Georges' ward, Isabelle who tells Hugo that the book has not been burned. (Jude Law plays the quirky father and is quickly killed off in a fire at the museum where he works). The Inspector is also cruel. So is Uncle Claude.

There are funny and silly things in this very visual and dark piece. The doberman looks too intelligent to fall for just anyone to chase. The man who played Vernon Dursley in Harry Potter is in there - trying to date a woman with a dachshund who hates him. Also, the woman who plays the giantess in Goblet of Fire is in the film.

How does the Inspector chase Hugo up the stairs to the top of the clock tower if he uses his arms to pull himself up to his office because of his leg brace? That was over 300 steps (you can hear him counting.)

Christopher Lee plays a book seller who I recognized only after he spoke. He too is austere and forbidding, but near the end of the film presents Hugo with a copy of Robin Hood, which was a book that his father had read to him.

Then Isabelle and Hugo find a film aficionado who knows all of Georges work and decide to "fix him" by having this man play the Man in the Moon film that Hugo's father has described to him in detail at is home. All of the sudden....Georges' is fixed? Decides to adopt Hugo?

And the automaton. I wished there was a little more about him. He is a wonderful machine.

There is a scene nearing the end where the station inspector finally catches Hugo. He is crying and says, "You have to let me go. I need to work. I need to understand why I am alone, why my father is dead. Can't you see that?" Then Georges' comes and says that he is responsible for the boy.
I don't see that any of those questions get answered. I want to send Brian S. a Book of Mormon.

It does look as if the drawings in the book are fabulous, can't wait to actually read it.