Overview: Hugo Cabret is an orphan, living secretly in the walls of a Paris train station, tending to the many clocks, stealing what he needs to survive and hiding from the ruthless station inspector.

But his clandestine life and precious secrets are threatened when he is caught thieving by the bitter old man who runs a toy booth at the station, and Hugo’s world becomes enmeshed with that of the shop owner and his bookish granddaughter.

A cryptic drawing, a treasured notebook, a mechanical man, and a hidden message from Hugo’s dead father are all connected to a place where dreams are made. A heartfelt love letter to the magic of moving pictures, Hugo is a triumph of imaginative movie making and a gift for film-lovers everywhere. This epic Arrow Video edition marks the film’s debut on stunning 4K UHD and comes packed with a bounty of new extras.

Blu-ray Verdict: In mu humble opinion, Hugo has Martin Scorsese master the children’s adventure movie genre. Scorsese’s 2010 hit was Shutter Island where he mastered the suspense thriller by paying attention to every detail in the film. Here, the camera is in the walls of a 1930s train station in Paris where we see the inner workings of clocks, an automaton, and an orphan boy looking for a key. It’s also in 3D, where applicable, and is cunningly also about the history of filmmaking.

Visually, this is a masterpiece. Easily the best of the 3D movies released in recent memory, if not of all time. There is seamless merging between computer-generated graphics and real sets. Conceptually, this is very impressive. As Hugo is on one of his adventures, he starts finding connections to old films. These are not just fictional films that help the story along for Scorsese is actually telling us the history of filmmaking, and thus uses the real footage of important films. He even rendered these real films in 3D!

Story wise, Hugo suffered though, it has to be said. It meandered a lot, never quite deciding which little adventure to start, or solve, or finish. A trick that I have learned in screen writing is to use a timeframe to set the story in, a ticking clock as some might say. Ironically, for a film that had more actual ticking clocks than any other, they didn’t give their own story one.

Indeed, one has to question if this was really meant to be a children’s movie. The over two-hour run time sent the younger kids crying into the arms of their mothers as exhaustion set in. And as the story moved away from an orphan boy on an adventure to the history of filmmaking, it became quite dry for the older kids.

Personally, I found Hugo, our hero, to be a snotty kid who didn’t even want to tell us what he was up to in the beginning, but at least the kids liked him. And I, at least, had the history of filmmaking to amuse me immensely.

That all said, I don’t think Hugo was just supposed to be about the history of filmmaking, but the magic of it. For those of us who love films, it certainly was magical. Hugo, the young boy, was removed from discovering the magic because his little adventure was mostly solved by the time we got into it.

Unfortunately, I think this removes the kids in the audience from discovering the magic of it. But the kids can have fun watching a robot while the adults are educated — perhaps that is what makes Hugo so special, the fact that the film caters to different viewing audiences on different levels, all at the same time.

In short, this is a simply lovely film and although there was definitely some uproar and befuddlement over the director of such films as Taxi Driver and Goodfellas making a children’s movie, Hugo still shows that a so-called children’s movie doesn’t have to be inane or infantile; for this one is an intelligent and wondrous work – never sappy or banal.

And, as aforementioned, in part a tribute to the magic of cinema, it reminded me why I love motion pictures so much. With its richness and nuance, Hugo must assuredly appeal to children and adults alike. I realize that saying sounds a little clichéd, but in this case I have faith in the truth of it.

4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS:
4K Ultra HD (2160p) debut of the 2D version of the film
Includes High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation of the film in 2D and 3D
Double-sided fold-out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tommy Pocket
Illustrated collector’s booklet with writing by film critic Farran Smith Nehme
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tommy Pocket

DISCS ONE & TWO – FEATURE & EXTRAS (BLU-RAY + 4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY):
4K Ultra HD (2160p) presentation of the 2D version of the film in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation of the film in 2D and 3D
DTS-HD MA 7.1 and 2.0 audio options
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Audio commentary by filmmaker and writer Jon Spira, publisher of The Lost Autobiography of Georges Méliès
Theatrical trailer

DISC THREE – BONUS DISC (BLU-RAY):
Inventing Hugo Cabret, a new interview with Brian Selznick author and illustrator of the original novel on which the film is based
Capturing Dreams, a new interview with director of photography Robert Richardson
The Music of Dreams, a new interview with composer Howard Shore
Ian Christie on Hugo, a new interview with the acclaimed film historian and editor of Scorsese on Scorsese
Secret Machines: Hugo and Film Preservation, a new visual essay by filmmaker and critic Scout Tafoya
Creating New Worlds, a new featurette in which French film historian and author Julien Dupuy examines the life and the legacy of Georges Méliès and his impact on cinema and special effects
Papa Georges Made Movies, a new featurette in which film critic and historian Pamela Hutchinson explores the days of early cinema
Méliès at the time of Hugo, a new a visual essay by filmmaker and writer Jon Spira
Five archival featurettes on the making of the film - Shoot the Moon: The Making of Hugo, The Cinemagician: Georges Méliès, The Mechanical Man at the Heart of Hugo, Big Effects, Small Scale and Sacha Baron Cohen: Role of a Lifetime

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