For the past 100 years, films have graced the presence of mankind in order to tell all kinds of stories that tickle the human brain. A time has now emerged where filmmaking is a technique that is old enough to look back on and appreciate. This is exactly what Martin Scorcese ambitiously attempts to do in his 34th film, “Hugo.”

In “Hugo”, the titular character played by Asa Butterfield, is a 12 year old orphan living in a train station managing the clocks in 1920’s Paris. When Hugo loses his notebook to a bitter old man with a mysterious past (Ben Kingsley), he teams up with a young booksmart girl (Chloe Moretz) in order to get it back and solve the mystery of a small, human-looking machine left behind by his father (Jude Law) before he died. Hugo is surrounded by a rich sense of culture in this setting, and it is delivered miraculously on to the screen with the film’s gorgeously designed sets.

This film, first and foremost, is an ode to movies, particularly the silent pictures of the past. Scorcese not only finds ways to inject his own manner of showing his love for film by making it a major part of the plot, but also from more subtle ways, like recreating shots from “A Trip to the Moon,” a film that came out in 1902, or actually using shots from various silent films of yesterday.

The dynamic between the main actors, Butterfield and Moretz, is terrific. These are kids with real feelings, that cry whenever the feel a sense of loss or grin heftily in the face of peril, which triggers flashbacks to the great child performances of Rob Reiner’s Stand By Me. The emotions portrayed by these actors is refreshing, especially from Butterfield, who embraces the character of Hugo with a sense of fearlessness. This is Scorcese’s first (non-documentary) film in seven years not starring Leonardo DiCaprio, perhaps 13 year old Butterfield will serve as his replacement for the next seven years.

In this epic children’s period piece, Scorcese has effectively found a way to convey his love and knowledge of filmmaking and possibly open it up to the younger audience, those unaware of film’s history or the passion that goes in to making a film. Movies this year have already looked back at film’s history and culture, like “The Artist” or “Midnight in Paris,” yet it’s “Hugo” that looks, sounds, and frankly is the best. It’s going to be hard to find a more joyous and adventurous film in theaters right now, or maybe ever.