Hugo

An unlikely mix—3-D, Martin Scorsese, a PG rating, a piquant slice of film history, live-action kids cavorting in a CGI Paris circa 1930—yields a charming array of slightly offbeat movie delights. Scorsese delivers the conventional pleasures of a PG action spectacle—chases and cliffhangers, high-flying camera work, a child’s-eye view of modern society. It’s the manner of delivery that’s unexpected: This picture is in no great hurry; with its dreamy, contemplative, art-film pacing, it clearly means to savor the details of its spectacle, the history as well as the fantasy. The title character is Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield), a resourceful orphan who lives inside the walls of the Montparnasse train station tending to the station’s huge clocks and staying clear of the menacing Station Inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen). Hugo is the story’s hero figure, but in many ways the film’s most crucial character is “Pappa Georges” (Ben Kingsley), the gent with the goatee who runs a toy shop in the station and whose goddaughter Isabelle (Chloë Grace Moretz) takes a liking to Hugo. Cinemark 14, Feather River Cinemas and Paradise Cinema 7. Rated PG