For my money, Scorsese’s Parisian settings offer the best use of 3D technology so far, and Hugo is one of the few films worth spending extra money for an added dimension.

Despite the fact that Martin Scorsese’s first film for all ages, Hugo, was based on the Caldecott-winning children’s novel, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, it wouldn’t be fair to call it a family movie. A fanciful invention loosely tied to the real life of a fanciful inventor, it is instead a charming meditation on film, art, and the value of work that will likely prove too quiet for most youngsters. But for a certain kind of reflective child and likeminded adults, Hugo is a 3D gift-wrapped dream.

The narrative of titular character Hugo (Asa Butterfield), an orphan boy living in the immense clockworks of a busy 1930s Paris train station, is more an aside than anything.

He has brief run-ins with the officious station inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen, whose phenomenal facial dexterity translates to innocent humor as well if not better than the raunchy stuff he’s famous for). He befriends the book-loving, similarly orphaned Isabelle (Chloe Moretz) and clashes with her guardian, Papa Georges (Ben Kingsley), the train station toy peddler.

In between all of that, he and Isabelle try to solve the mystery of the automaton (a mechanical man) Hugo’s father discovered in a museum before he died.

But the real purpose of the film, rated PG for some slightly bawdy dialogue and smoking, is for Scorsese to celebrate the medium that has provided his life’s work and to ponder from whence his talent springs. It turns out grouchy Papa Georges is none other than the great turn-of-the century filmmaker George Méliès. After World War I leaves him impoverished and professionally unpopular, Méliès hangs up his camera and tries to forget about the magic of movies. Not surprisingly, frustrating his passion leaves Méliès bitter, unfulfilled, and depressed.

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