Adventures of Tintin, The
Alternate English Title: The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn
Release date: December 21, 2011
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Screenplay by: Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish
Cast: Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig, Nick Frost, Simon Pegg
Based on the iconic Tintin comics (specifically on The Secret of the Unicorn, The Crab with the Golden Claws, and Red Rackham’s Treasure), Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson join forces to give us The Adventures of Tintin.
The story starts with Tintin (Bell) getting a model ship called The Unicorn from the market, which hides an important clue in finding an old treasure. Tintin and faithful dog Snowy embark in an adventure joined by Captain Haddock (Serkis), whose ancestor started the treasure hunt. Ivan Sakharine (Craig) is the antagonist here. He got an upgrade from the comics, where he was annoying but not a villain. Sakharine also kinda looks like Spielberg for some reason. Other remarkable additions to the cast include Nick Frost and Simon Pegg as clueless detectives Thompson and Thomson, who come into play due to a subplot about a pickpocket.
Concerning the animation, I’m proud to announce we are almost out of the Uncanny Valley (which means cartoon motion capture doesn’t give me the creeps anymore… most of the time). The movements and body language of the people (and animals) are quite life-like and only felt strange sometimes in the facial expressions of the most realistic-looking characters. And, of course, the rest of the animation is superb and very fluid. Congrats, Weta Digital.
All in all, the movie is old fashioned in a very awesome way. There’s a lot of action and violence that, while not cartoony at all, are a bit over-the-top. The humor is also quaint and very physical, which makes you laugh and feel nostalgic at the same time. And then, there’s the catch phrases (“Great Snakes!”, “Thundering Typhoons!”), which, ok, were there in the comics, but feel weirdly cute nowadays. But that doesn’t matter, the protagonists are as badass today as they were in the 30s, considering they are basically a teenage boy, a drunkard and a small dog.
So yeah, I eagerly await the sequel… my thirst for Tintin’s adventures is unquenchable.
Rating:
Ok… wasn’t it a bit unsettling to see the photorealistic Tintin style and the cartoon physics? xD Like that scene with the plane?
@amy, What unsettled me was some expression on Tintin’s face. Cartoon physics not so much because it reminded me of all movies where everything was over the top XD
@amy, I meant “old movies”… damn, I must go to sleep. XD
@Mirella Snape, Also… what’s up with “Snowy” gosh – couldn’t the dog keep its name as Milou? xD
@amy, Well he was always called Snowy in the traslated comics in English so it’s not the movie’s fault XD Just like Thompson & Thomson are really Dupond & Dupont XD
In Spanish Milou is Milú so no problems there, while Thompson & Thomson became Hernández & Fernández.
I liked the movie but I thought the original material is a bit of a limiting factor since the characters are so stagnant and undergo virtually no development throughout the entire series. Nonetheless, it should be to see what Peter Jackson has in store for the sequel.
@Castor, I never really cared much for Tintin, so I didn’t really have any preconceived notion of what I wanted the movie to be. It was pretty fun (though a bit unsettling at times), but it was fun… I liked Milou (Snowy) more than Tintin, though xD