All the books by Brian Selznick adapted to cinema and television, ranked

In 1931 Paris, 12-year-old Hugo Cabret lives with his widowed, clockmaker father, who works at a museum. Hugo attempts to repair the automaton with stolen parts, believing it contains a message from his father, but the machine requires a heart-shaped key. Hugo is caught stealing parts from a toy store, and the owner, Georges, takes his notebook, threatening to destroy it.

The film interlaces two stories set fifty years apart, switching frequently between them, with the older storyline filmed in black and white. Each tells the story of a child’s quest. In 1927, young deaf girl Rose runs away from her father’s New Jersey home to find her mother/idol, the actress Lillian Mayhew. In 1977, recently orphaned Ben, made deaf by a freak accident, runs away from his Minnesota home in search of his father.