Four Snouts Up for Hugo

(:)(:)(:)(:) for Hugo, a family friendly film directed by Martin Scorsese. I struggle as to whether to give this 4 snouts over 3 (and it's certainly not the coveted 5 snouts). It's an absolutely gorgeous picture--amazing set, amazing cinematography, lovely acting, engaging sweet story. However, I guess in the end, I found it a bit thin. It's really just not enough story for a full movie, as if someone took a short story (rather than a thick graphic novel, which is essentially what it was based upon) and stretched it into a feature film. Without giving anything away, I also didn't completely buy the basic premise of why the character played by Ben Kingsley is so sad and what he fears so much about the past. When that was revealed, my reaction was kind of, "huh?" We also chose to see the film in 3-D which may not have been the best decision. I went with my husband and two teenagers. The 4 of us have kind of decided that there's too much 3-D out there and that we'd just as soon see things in two dimensions. But this film has lots of long shots of the amazing clock works and racing around the station and in retrospect, I can see where that would be more exciting in 3-D. The rest of my family absolutely loved it with no reservations and it is notable that two teenagers opted for and really dug this PG film over some of the more violent and salacious fare in the market. My recommendation: See Hugo, bring the kids and grandma, and see it in 3-D.