Tintin: Jamie Bell
Captain Haddock: Andy Serkis
Sakharine: Daniel Craig
Thomson: Nick Frost
Thompson: Simon Pegg
Paramount Picutres and
Columbia Pictures present a film directed by Steven Spielberg. Written by
Steven Moffat and Edgar Wright & Joe Cornish. Based on the comic book
series by Hergé. Running time: 107 min. Rated PG (for adventure action
violence, some drunkenness and brief smoking).
My parents were readers.
They also happened to be very practical people. Books cost money. One of the
most frequented stores of ours when I was young was Bookland. My mother would
spend hours there. It was in the back corner of Bookland, in the children’s
section, where I discovered a treasure—the comic book series “The Adventures of
Tintin” by Belgian author and artist Hergé. I believe they were rather
expensive comics for I never actually owned any. They were hardcovers. But, I
read almost all of them. While my mother shopped, I would sit in the back
corner of Bookland reading all about the kid reporter Tintin and his adventures
all over the world.
When I first heard that
Steven Spielberg was going to adapt Tintin into an animated series of movies, I
thought I couldn’t conceive of a better fit. Tintin is like a cross between
Indiana Jones and James Bond in the form of a family friendly kid reporter. Tintin
always has his trusty dog Snowy by his side, and he’s one of those Spielberg
kids who always seems to be just slightly smarter than all the adults in the
room. His adventures take him to exotic places and have him using crazy gadgets
and vehicles, but it is his intellect that keeps him in the hunt for whatever
treasure or story to which the clues seem to lead.
“The Adventures of Titin”
marks Spielberg’s first foray into animation as well as 3D. To recreate the
unique look of the original Tintin comics in a CGI animated format, Spielberg
chose to use the motion capture process, popularized by the character of Gollum
in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy (that film’s director, Peter Jackson, is one
of Spielberg’s co-producers and slated to direct the next Tintin adventure). This
process was used in such animated hits as “The Polar Express” and Disney’s “A
Christmas Carol”. It involves having live actors perform the physical movements
of the characters, transferring those images to a computer, and rendering them
into an animated format. The format is especially effective in capturing
lifelike facial movement detail for the animated characters.
The results are a rousing
adventure beginning with the opening credits of the film. Those credits are probably
the best use of 3D in the movie. They have the same retro stylization as the
credits for Spielberg’s 2002 movie “Catch Me If You Can”. Spielberg does
something in the credits that is becoming a new trend in opening credit
sequences. Just as in the new movie “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol”, the
opening credits act as an appetizer for the story you’re about to watch by
giving you a skimmed preview of the film’s plot.
That plot begins in earnest
as soon as those credits are finished. Spielberg and his screenwriters take a
few moments to introduce their audience to the plucky hero and the time capsule
visual style of the movie by sweeping down into a Brussels market place where Tintin
is having his portrait done by an artist who replicates Hergé’s art in his
caricatures. We meet Tintin’s faithful fox terrier Snowy, with the perfect pet
behavior of movie animals, which is easier to obtain in the animated format.
We are quickly swept up into
a plot involving pickpockets, a family curse, a sunken pirate treasure, and the
powerful effects of alcohol. Tintin (Jamie Bell, “The Eagle”) finds a beautiful
model ship of the frigate, the Unicorn. Before he even leaves the market place with
it two different men approach him, one an American the other a professor-type
by the name of Sakharine (Daniel Craig, “Casion Royale”), offering him money
for the model. Tintin refuses, and each man finds his way to Tintin's home
later in the day. The American delivers a warning that ends in death. Sakharine
ransacks the place when Tintin is gone.
Tintin discovers that the
Unicorn was an actual ship that disappeared. A man named Haddock captained it.
A piece of parchment he finds in the model’s mast says that only a Haddock will
be able to discover the secret of the Unicorn. Before Tintin can set out find
Haddock himself, Sakharine kidnaps the boy to get the parchment. When Tintin
awakes, he finds himself on a ship where the ship’s captain is also a prisoner.
Is it a surprise that the captain’s name is Haddock?
While the adventure action
is non-stop and the animation is nothing short of stunning, it is the character
of Haddock (Andy Serkis, “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”) who really brings
this material to life. Back when I was a kid, nobody thought twice about having
a drunkard play hero in a children’s story. Today, it’s a little out of the
ordinary, but the character is so entertaining, I’m willing to forgive the
transgression. Also along for part of the ride are the comic book’s bumbling
detective twins, Thomson and Thompson (Nick Frost and Simon Pegg of “Shaun of
the Dead” fame).
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