The Adventures of Tintin follows the exciting exploits of a young reporter, his dog, a sea captain with a drinking problem, and a couple of bumbling Interpol detectives as they travel from Europe to the Sahara and Morocco in pursuit of a pickpocket, model-ship collectors and long-lost treasure. Steven Spielberg's and Peter Jackson's long-awaited full-length film, based on the original Tintin comics by Hergé, combines the stories "The Secret of the Unicorn," "Red Rackham's Treasure," and "The Crab with the Golden Claws" into a generally fast-paced adventure that... feels just a tad too long. The individual stories and the characters Tintin, Snowy, Captain Haddock, and Thompson and Thomson are all quite faithfully represented. The motion-capture animation is similar to that of Polar Express and is both fascinating and a bit odd at times. As in the comics themselves, the characters are highly stylized and instantly recognizable, but Tintin's facial expression is eerily stoic and there's a hint of strangeness that's hard to put a finger on. Snowy is delightfully funny to watch, though he is a bit fluffier than in the original comics, and the real animation standouts are the secondary characters like Thompson and Thomson and Captain Haddock, who somehow seem absolutely perfect. Devoted fans will revel in the abundance of small details that reference the comics and suggest a true love for Tintin on the filmmakers' parts, but even viewers who don't know a thing about the comics will thoroughly enjoy this exciting adventure. (Suitable for ages 7 and older) --Tami Horiuchi [show more]
Do you remember the feeling you got as a kid when you saw the first action-adventure movie that truly thrilled you? For me, it's Raiders of the Lost Ark that sticks in my mind as the perfect fusion of a great lead character, a thrilling globe-trotting plot, and some of the most imaginative and deftly-executed action scenes ever committed to celluloid. It would be impossible for any subsequent film to replicate the initial rush that I felt on watching that movie - but with 'Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn', Steven Spielberg manages to come damn close.
Based on the famous Belgian comic strip about a kid reporter and his trusty canine sidekick, the Tintin movie condenses a few of the character's adventures into a single twisting-and-turning narrative revolving around a mysterious model boat and a hoard of hidden treasure. As Tintin gets sucked deeper into the swashbuckling story, he becomes involved in an international criminal plot that takes in gruff gangsters, exotic locales, dangerous situations, and an alcoholic sea-captain who turns out to be one of the young reporter's staunchest allies - as well as the key to solving the mystery.
But as undeniably interesting as all this sounds, these story details are a mere skeleton from which to hang some enjoyable character interactions, some inspired action scenes, and some of the best computer-generated visuals that have ever been seen in an animated movie.
It's the well-constructed action sequences that really stick in my mind as the high point of the film. Unsurprisingly (given Spielberg's history with the Indiana Jones saga, as well as thrilling action fare like Jurassic Park), these action scenes are executed with a clockwork precision: every element of them is deftly set up within the movie shortly before the action kicks off, but it's not until they all come together that you appreciate just how perfectly they all lock into place.
A good example is the climactic chase in Morocco towards the end of the film. Beginning as a simple motorbike escape and chase sequence, it gradually escalates into a dizzying visual symphony that includes a burst dam flooding a valley, an entire hotel being carried downhill on the back of a tank, and a frantic on-foot scramble across rooftops, washing lines and buildings that would put The Bourne Ultimatum to shame - all without ever letting up on the momentum of the scene for a single moment. It's viscerally exciting, to be sure, but there's also a real sense of wit to proceedings, with actions often having unintended (but serendipitous) consequences, and certain objects cropping up again and again to play a role in the action (such as Captain Haddock's whisky bottles).
Elsewhere in the movie, there's action of a different flavour: car chases, fistfights, and shootouts abound, and Tintin also makes use of a wide variety of modes of transport such as a seaplane, a tramp steamer and a camel in the furtherance of his quest. But far from simply being box-ticking efforts to cram as much as possible into the film, every action sequence earns its place as an essential element in whatever stage of Tintin's journey it plays a role. Nothing ever feels gratuitous, with the action always serving to move the plot along to its next stage.
Another aspect of the film I mentioned earlier is its visuals. This is a computer animated film that rises head and shoulders above most of its rivals by making use of motion-capture - meaning that real-life actors have been filmed acting out every scene, and then their movements and facial expressions mapped onto their animated counterparts. This helps to lend the movie a certain sense of realism - and pitches it at a slightly more adult level than some animated features - but at the same time the film never loses that sense of bold, colourful design that helps the characters and locations to seem so larger-than-life.
Wisely, the filmmakers haven't tried to slavishly replicate human features when build their computer-animated characters - instead, they're caricatures that ape the textures and behaviour of human skin, hair and clothing, but retain an exaggerated cartoon sensibility, particularly when it comes to faces. This helps the film to avoid falling into that trap of 'dead-eyed', weird-looking human characters that can afflict those movies that strive for absolute photo-realism. It's the perfect way to handle a comicbook adaptation like Tintin, and I can foresee it becoming a very popular approach to such properties in future.
And the acting itself is top-notch: even though the actors aren't recognisable on-screen (well, apart from their voices), Spielberg has still put together an A-list crew that includes the likes of Daniel Craig, Jamie Bell and Andy Serkis (of Gollum fame), as well as great supporting actors like Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in the roles of bumbling detectives Thomson and Thompson. All of the cast lend their characters a huge amount of charm, and manage to deal with some of the more difficult character elements (such as the fine balance between humour and seriousness that must be struck when dealing with Haddock's alcoholism) perfectly.
The computer-animated approach also allows for some wonderful directorial flourishes on Spielberg's part: with complete freedom to move his 'camera' wherever he wishes, the director has the audience's viewpoint rocket all around his action scenes, viewing proceedings from every conceivable angle and getting a real sense of the physicality of every character, vehicle or location. And many of the transitions from scene to scene benefit from artful little visual touches (sometimes verging on the surreal) that help to tie together different elements of the story in unexpected and imaginative ways.
On Blu-Ray, these visuals look even better, with the high-definition format allowing you to pore over the movie in even more detail - whether it's the background press clippings in Tintin's apartment that hint at his earlier adventures, or the affectionate homage to Tintin's creator Hergé in the first first scene of the movie. There are also plenty of extras that provide a wealth of details on how Tintin was adapted for the screen, as well as on the technology that was used to do it.
Indeed, we're truly getting to a stage with computer-animating technology where directors can put anything on the screen that they can imagine - and when you've got a master like Spielberg at the helm of one of the most enduring heroes of children's literature of the last half-century, you really can't go wrong. By ruthlessly cutting out any flab from the original Tintin stories and injecting them with verve and energy - as well as some outrageous action - he's put together one of the finest family adventure movies I've seen in years.
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This computer-animated motion-capture adaptation of Georges Remi's beloved TINTIN comic strip is this first installment of a planned trilogy. Steven Spielberg handles direction duties on the initial film, which is set to be followed by a second film helmed by Peter Jackson, who shares producing duties on the films along with Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy. Jamie Bell provides the voice of Tintin, with Daniel Craig, Andy Serkis, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and Toby Jones heading up the rest of the cast. Edgar Wright, Joe Cornish, and Steven Moffat provide the screenplay.
Steven Spielberg brings Hergé's Tintin to the big screen with this animated adventure. With plot lines drawn from three Tintin stories - 'The Crab With the Golden Claws', 'The Secret of the Unicorn' and 'Red Rackham's Treasure' - the film follows intrepid young reporter Tintin (voiced by Jamie Bell) as he joins forces with Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis) to find the treasure of his ancestor, Sir Francis Haddoque. A clue hidden inside a model ship bought on a market stall seems to point the way to the treasure. With the assistance of accident-prone Detectives Thompson and Thomson (Simon Pegg and Nick Frost), Tintin and Haddock set out to solve the mystery. Needless to say, though, they are not the only ones after the loot.
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