I read The Invention of Hugo Cabret (which is the origin of the movie), and it was so perfect I have no desire to see the film version -- especially since the film version is in color and 3-D, and the story is about early black and white film-making-- and the illustrations match that.*

That said, I do believe storytelling (movies and otherwise) is magic -- in a very literal sense. They "Make with Belief," which has always been the sorcerer's art: pulling the unreal out of the ether and making it real.

*it was the first middle-grade chapter book to ever win a Caldecott Medal for illustration...