Starring: Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Asa Butterfield, Chloe Grace Moretz, Ray Winstone

Director: Martin Scorses

TAKING on a new genre but leaving none of his vision or style behind, Martin Scorsese has turned hit young adult novel “The Invention of Hugo Cabret” into a warm and delightfully engaging family film that makes refreshing use of 3D and cleverly spins the director’s love of early cinema into a moving fable about art and self-discovery.

John Logan (who also wrote Scorsese’s “The Aviator” and last year’s animated hit “Rango”) adapted Brian Selznick’s illustrated novel about Hugo Cabret (played by Asa Butterfield, from “Nanny McPhee Returns”), an orphan who lives secretly in the hidden corners of a 1920’s Paris train station, evading the authorities by keeping up his absent uncle’s job of winding all the station’s clocks.

Befriending local girl Isabelle ( Chloe Grace Moretz in “Let Me In”), Hugo sets out to unravel the mystery of an automaton figure left to him by his father. The mystery leads to Isabelle’s grandfather (Ben Kingsley), a curmudgeonly old toy maker who, unbeknown to Hugo, Isabelle and most of the rest of Paris, was once a celebrated cinema pioneer.

Scorsese opens the action with an elaborately staged set piece that explores the station and Hugo’s precarious place in it and introduces some of the other habitues, among them the seemingly cold-hearted station gendarme (Sacha Baron Cohen in “Borat”).

The opening sets a nice mood and offers plenty of Gallic charm (although the views of Paris appear to have been wholly created with special effects). But for a while thereafter the film feels a little unfocused and clinical, as if Scorsese is just experimenting with a new form and a new shooting format.

Before too long, however, the film finds its emotional heart by connecting the stories of Hugo, who longs to discover a purpose beyond maintaining the station clocks, and Isabelle’s grandfather, the French film-maker Georges Melies, who was a historical figure who pioneered the use of special effects but sank into obscurity when many of his early works were destroyed.

Production designer Dante Ferretti and costume designer Sandy Powell, both regular Scorsese collaborators, make outstanding contributions, particularly in the flashback sequences that show Melies shooting his wildly imaginative sci-fi and fantasy films.

Cinematographer Robert Richardson, who also shot Scorsese’s “Shutter Island,” helps the director make excellent use of 3D, which here seems to enlarge every scene rather than just intruding at obviously planned moments.

Thankfully, the design and effects don’t overshadow the performances, which are uniformly strong. Fourteen-year-old Butterfield makes the title character interesting without being too cute and Moretz (also 14) adds considerable charm. Kingsley is quietly moving, Baron Cohen is nicely nuanced and supporting players including Frances de la Tour, Richard Griffiths, Christopher Lee and Emily Mortimer add appealing notes of warmth and humor.

The movie is now being screened in Shenzhen.

(SD-Agencies)