Everyone is intrigued by Martin Scorsese going the Steven Spielberg route, and making a movie full of childlike wonder instead of cocaine. What would it be like, exactly? Scorsese is nothing if not versatile, but he’s never really dabbled in the warm and fuzzy side of storytelling.
The trailer for Hugo (formerly The Invention of Hugo Cabret) hit today and it’s surprisingly Spielbergian. Harry Potteresque, even. It’s hard to pinpoint Scorsese in it at all.
It’s also hard to figure out exactly what the story is. I haven’t read the book, and I decided not to look it up before watching it just for the sake of a cold judgment. I’m definitely intrigued (and I’ll undoubtedly cheat and look on Wikipedia), but it seems like such a jumble of madcap imagery. There’s a robot, a key, a magician, the enchanting Chloe Moretz (I bet she steals the movie again), and repeated attempts to make Sasha Baron Cohen fall into things.
It certainly is beautiful, though. I feel glib making Potter comparisons, but it’s got the same level of texture to the world, and that kind of detail is nice to see in a kid’s film.
Go watch the trailer on Apple and report back. You get bonus points if you can spot the Scorsese in all the magic and slapstick humor. (Really! I am curious if I’m just overtired and missing some obvious tracking shots…)