"The Adventures of Tintin" (3D) Movie Review

THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN

Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure

Starring: Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost

Rating: PG (U.S.) PG (Canada)

Warnings: Adventure Action Violence, Some Drunkenness and Brief Smoking

Length: 107 Minutes

Studio(s): Paramount, Columbia Pictures, Nickelodeon

Points of Interest: Available in IMAX 3D; Inspired by comic strip, "The Adventures of Tintin"; "The Adventures of Tintin" video game available on PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, iOS, Android, and 3DS



WHAT I LOVED:

- The motion-capture animation is quite simply stunning, and of much better quality than many competing films, making The Adventures of Tintin one of the most visually captivating movies of 2011!

- Andy Serkis steals the show as the perpetually drunken Captain Haddock!

- The action sequences are very well-done and often very breathless, making The Adventures of Tintin a much more exciting film than many would suspect!

- Tintin fans will be pleased to see how well the essence of the original comic strips and cartoons are captured in the movie!


WHAT I DIDN'T SO MUCH...:

- The 3D in the movie is not that great, and a massive missed opportunity.

- Bumbling Interpol officers, Thomson and Thompson are sorely underused, and not given much to do when they do appear onscreen, which will disappoint fans.

- Though it's marketed as a family film, Haddock's continued drinking and the surprising moments of violence at certain points may be inappropriate for a lot of young children.


AND HERE'S THE FULL REVIEW:

This is bound to impress someone, since I'm still a young man, but I knew who Tintin was long before this movie was even announced! I remember watching the old French-language cartoon during my high school French classes, and being familiar with the original comic strip, since I have family members that were longtime fans of the series. The Tintin stories have been published since 1929, and Steven Spielberg has had the rights to a film adaptation since original Tintin creator, Herge's death in 1983, finally managing to get a Tintin movie off the ground with the help of Lord of the Rings director, Peter Jackson. Shot entirely in a studio using cutting-edge motion-capture technology, The Adventures of Tintin is an extremely ambitious adventure film to close out the year, and it was one that I was very excited for, especially when one considers the creative team behind the piece! With Spielberg directing, Jackson producing, John Williams doing the musical score, and the writing being done by Doctor Who's Steven Moffat, Shaun of the Dead's Edgar Wright and Attack the Block's Joe Cornish, you know that you're very likely to produce something truly spectacular! When you round out the cast with the likes of Andy Serkis, Jamie Bell, Daniel Craig, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost, all the better! Tintin is definitely bringing all of the biggest guns in Hollywood to the proceedings, and I'm happy to report that for the most part, the movie is very well-done, even if it could use a few tweaks before the inevitable sequel, with three films having already been envisioned by both Spielberg and Jackson. This original film takes inspiration from three specific Tintin stories; "The Crab With the Golden Claws" (1941), "The Secret of the Unicorn" (1943), and "Red Rackham's Treasure" (1944), and blends them all together into an original new adventure, comprised of a mix of characters and scenarios from these three stories. Whether you've loved the Tintin series for a while, or have never even heard of it before, you should be very pleased with the final product of this movie, which is a remarkably fun and fast-paced adventure with no shortage of thrills and excitement, whilst effectively utilizing the mo-cap visuals to create a human, and yet exaggerated world of animation and life. Despite being marketed as a family movie, Tintin harkens back strongly to the less family-friendly original shorts, so you're going to run into several surprising moments of violence, not to mention the fact that Tintin's companion, Captain Archibald Haddock, is expectedly drunk throughout the entire film, so you may want to leave your younger children at home for this one, despite the marketing. That being said though, even if there's missed opportunities and a few elements that don't work, Tintin is a visually stunning and relentlessly captivating adventure that anyone with a taste for big screen spectacle would do well to check out.

Characters: (7/10) - Our lead character is babyfaced reporter, Tintin, who ends up racing some unsavoury types for clues to treasure in the movie, after a seemingly innocent purchase of a model ship. Tintin's stubborn desire for the truth at all times reflects his personality from the original comic strips quite well, even if it makes him a somewhat bland, underdeveloped hero. Tintin is a noble protaganist, but there's not a whole lot to him either. He's surprisingly understated compared to the more fantastical characters that he's often surrounded by. Even Tintin's own canine companion, Snowy has a much more interesting personality than him, and he's a little white dog! Since even the original strips were light on rounded personality for Tintin as far as I can remember, this is to be expected, and at least we have other characters to compensate for this. Though the drunken sea captain, Archibald Haddock is Tintin's companion throughout his adventures, including the ones that this movie takes inspiration from, they're meeting for the first time in this movie, with Haddock being the only person that can decipher the clues that lead to the Unicorn's treasure. Haddock is easily the best character in the movie, a destitute drunk with a slurred one-liner for every circumstance, and an off-the-wall solution to every problem that he often tends to botch in a stupor. Haddock injects personality where Tintin comes up short, and his duties are often fulfilled by Tintin's pooch, Snowy before his introduction. Other characters that you'd think would inject more personality into the movie are Thomson and Thompson, a bumbling double act of Interpol officers that are hilariously oblivious to everything around them, making you wonder how they became esteemed Interpol officers in the first place, but I guess that's part of the joke. Unfortunately, these two aren't given much to do beyond being awkwardly intercut into scenes to add comic relief that doesn't necessarily need to be there. They can still be fun, but they could have been used to greater effect beyond fumbling around for throwaway jokes whilst having almost no bearing on the storyline. There's a character arc where they try to pursue a pickpocket, but it's shoved into the background, and doesn't really amount to a whole lot. Thankfully, the filmmakers seem to be aware of this, and have promised extended roles and better use of Thomson and Thompson in the sequel, so I'm happy to hear that! This brings me to our villain, Ivan Ivanovitch Sakharine, a falsely accused art collector in the original strips, though in this movie, he's very clearly an antagonist from the get-go. Sakharine is good enough as a villain, but he also unfortunately lacks menace. While he often appropriately seems to always be one step ahead of Tintin and Haddock, he comes off as more of a disgruntled nerd than a serious threat. I know that this is a family-friendly movie (or it's supposed to be), and you can only do so much when it comes to making Sakharine a deadly bad guy, but it stinks that Tintin is up against a foe that never really seems to instill a sense of dread in the audience. This is made worse by the fact that the movie's climax is rather weak, but I'll get to that later. The characters in the movie have plenty of personality for the most part, even if it's rather ironic that the weak link here is Tintin himself, sometimes stubbornly optimistic and intrepid to the point of feeling a bit bland as far as action heroes go. At least any disappointments in the characters are almost exclusively made up for by the likes of Haddock and Snowy in particular though.

Acting: (8/10) - The performances in Tintin are generally pretty sharp, even if the actors are sometimes let down by the occasional faults in the script. Jamie Bell is well-suited to the role of Tintin, but his performance isn't given a lot of room to breathe, since Tintin's personality feels so flat. It's optimistic and easy to get behind, sure, but he's a flat hero all the same. There are a few moments that try to change this, but there's only so much you can do without betraying the spirit of Herge's original works I guess. Thankfully Snowy, who is entirely comprised of CGI and sound effects, compensates by injecting any charm necessary into a scene where Tintin's repetitive determination fails to provide it. As I said, the real star of the show here is Andy Serkis, who is yet again delivering a truly superb performance as Captain Haddock, after stealing the show as simian uprising leader, Caesar in this past Summer's awesome Rise of the Planet of the Apes. This marks two highlight performances for Serkis in 2011, since, just like Caesar, Haddock's supporting role completely steals the show and runs away with the movie, carrying it forward in Tintin's stead, much like Snowy does in the first act, before Haddock appears. Daniel Craig does what he can in the role of villain, Sakharine, but like I said, he somewhat lacks menace, and doesn't come off as a truly terrifying villain. That's not a fault of Craig, since he does better than most other actors would in the role, but even if Sakharine always seems to be an expert planner, you never get a sense that Tintin is in any real danger when up against him, and that sucks away some of the movie's potential thrills, only further hammered home when you're inevitably let down by Tintin's unfortunate anti-climax that closes out the film, obviously baiting sequels in the process. I was really excited to see the double act of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in the role of Thomson and Thompson, and the two sound virtually identical, so you can tell that they're really putting lots into their performance. Again, Thomson and Thompson aren't given a lot of bearing on the movie, and their awkward placement in the proceedings prevents them from being as funny as they could have been, making them feel like somewhat of a waste of Pegg and Frost's talents, and natural chemistry with one another that they've displayed continually, starring together in movies like Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and Paul. I hope that Pegg and Frost return to the roles in the sequel, and that they're put to better use. Again though, at least Andy Serkis dominates the performances as Captain Haddock, and one excellent character in a slew of decent ones is still a pretty solid deal, especially since he's drunk for almost the entire film, which will no doubt amuse independent adults. As funny as this is however, it may rub parents the wrong way if they're taking their young kids to the movie, so you may want to leave your littler children at home if you're concerned about Tintin's surprisingly rampant drunkenness in the Haddock character. Just warning you.

Stunts: N/A

Special Effects/Animation: (10/10) - Tintin's action scenes are generally completely spectacular in every way, and I was surprised at how breathless they can really be, even with the movie's effective use of the mo-cap to add a cartoon exaggeration in a way that shooting the movie in live-action wouldn't effectively allow. To say that Tintin is a great-looking film is an understatement, because your jaw will consistently be on the floor when you see the incredible detail in the environments, characters and scenarios, especially when you consider that this entire movie was shot in a studio, even when it jumps between a considerable amount of locations across the globe. The 'dead eye' look that's a common problem with motion capture characters is actually surprisingly minimal, though it is apparent at times with Tintin himself, who looks phenomenally realized on the big screen, don't get me wrong, he just doesn't always feel like he's a fully living personality, and this is made worse by Tintin's inflexible character persona. Characters like Haddock and Sakharine are much more expressive, and look much more lifelike. In any case though, the animation is stunning, and I would easily consider Tintin to be the best-looking animated film in recent memory, since its highlight scenes are nothing short of captivating, even outdoing recent visual stunners like Legend of the Guardians and Rango. If you're seeing the movie for its visuals, you're definitely in for a treat! As far as the 3D goes, I did shell out the extra money to see Tintin in IMAX 3D, and I can tell you that, unfortunately, it wasn't really worth it. I was really let down by the surprisingly weak 3D in Tintin, which is never really put to effective use for the most part. It just sort of hangs there. There's a few neat atmospheric scenes, and a few cool depth effects during a slow-mo sequence or two, but that's about the extent of the well-utilized 3D in the movie. It's brief, and it's nothing that you haven't seen before. Honestly, it feels like Tintin is in 3D simply because all animated movies must be shot in 3D nowadays, with only this past March's Rango boldly defying the convention. It pains me to say it as an unapologetic fan of 3D, but you may want to seek out the 2D version of Tintin if you could care less about a 3D presentation, because you're really not missing a lot if you go that route.

Set Pieces: N/A

Costumes: N/A

Story: (7/10) - In blending various elements of three Tintin stories together, whilst simultaneously acting as an origin story for the partnership between Tintin and Captain Haddock, continual companions in the original strip, but meeting for the first time in this movie, certain elements of the plot have been tweaked from their original incarnations. Sakharine is an obvious antagonist for starters, unlike in the original story, Haddock wasn't present during Tintin's previous adventures, which are cleverly referenced in newspaper clippings around his apartment (and yes, these are actual Tintin tales that they are referencing), and the subject of one of the stories, The Crab With the Golden Claws, only features in a mere cameo towards the climax, with the rest of the story mainly focusing on The Secret of the Unicorn, and Red Rackham's Treasure, with the former being the subtitle of the movie in European markets, though oddly not in the North American release. Anyway, the movie picks up with Tintin having plenty of daring adventures under his belt already, as an intrepid Belgian reporter. After a seemingly innocent purchase of a model ship, he is set upon by various parties who are desperate to seize the ship and seek a clue hidden within it, which points to a lost treasure. After Tintin is caught up in the dangerous campaign of Sakharine, a wealthy collector with a vendetta, he teams up with the drunken Captain Archibald Haddock to try and beat Sakharine to the treasure. The story is generally pretty exciting, but it mainly fires on all cylinders during the first half. The movie's second half is unfortunately much less interesting plot-wise, though it does contain some of the movie's real highlight action sequences to compensate. The climax however is pretty weak, plus the denouement is dull, and obviously serves as little more than sequel bait on top of that. Despite te problems with the plot, Tintin remains a pretty solid adventure, but those with high expectations after looking at the creative team behind it will probably expect more. It's a good adventure story, and a definite improvement over Spielberg's infamous 2008 misfire, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, though it still falls well short of the standard set by Raiders of the Lost Ark, so don't go in expecting the animated equivalent of that, because you're not going to get it.

Length/Editing: (8/10) - Tintin is generally pretty well-paced and extremely well-polished, as expected in a movie directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by Peter Jackson. The runtime is pretty well at the sweet spot for a movie like this, but towards the end, Tintin starts to suffer from pacing problems, made worse by the let-down of a climax that it unfortunately delivers. It's a movie that feels like it rapidly runs out of steam as the final act starts kicking up, even if the first two are generally pretty breathless and exciting, making the runtime just fly right by for the audience. The last portion of the movie is much less interesting to sit through though, and that's a real bummer, since it feels like Tintin kind of overplayed its hand and used up all of its tricks before it gets to the finale, which it's supposed to save most of them for.

Genre Appeal: (8/10) - If you're looking for a visually stunning animated adventure, Tintin pretty well delivers in what it sets out to do, even if some of the shortcomings are rather surprising when you consider the creative team behind it. The weak 3D is really disappointing, and the less interesting final act drags down the lasting impression of the adventure, but if you're going for the visuals and/or the exciting action scenes, you should be reasonably pleased here.

Re-watch Value: (6/10) - Tintin is best seen on the big screen, since that's where you can best appreciate its incredible visuals. It's not quite the same on home viewing I'm sure, but avid fans of the character will probably want to pick up the Blu-Ray when it arrives, especially since they'll inevitably have to re-watch the film to gear up for sequels in the years to come.

Conclusion- Tintin is a flawed movie, but I still had a lot of fun with it. It's not a pitch-perfect big screen realization of Herge's highly beloved characters, but it's a very worthy effort, and it holds plenty of promise for the sequels that the team seems dead set upon, with Peter Jackson already claiming that he's getting to work on Tintin 2 after he wraps up the two-part Hobbit films that are coming at the tail ends of 2012 and 2013. You might expect the massive talent behind Tintin to deliver a better product, but I'd simply advise you to lower your expectations. Like I said, don't walk into this expecting it to be the animated Raiders of the Lost Ark, because that's unreasonable, and you'll only have yourself to blame for being disappointed. Tintin is merely a great adventure movie instead of an excellent one, and there's definitely room for improvement in follow-ups, but the movie still justifies them quite well, setting up a breathtaking world full of running gags, personality and character. Andy Serkis's highly enjoyable turn as Captain Haddock is worth seeing the movie for alone, and that's not even factoring in the absolutely stunning visuals, which I still easily appreciated on an IMAX screen, even if the 3D was a real let-down. In fact, one of the main requests I'd level at a sequel is to REALLY improve the quality of the 3D. Considering the excellent and unprecedented quality of Tintin's incredible visuals, it's all the more disappointing that the 3D is not used to better effect, and it's one way that the sequel could easily improve on the original. Thomson and Thompson also feel like a missed opportunity, since I delighted seeing them on screen, on account of them being my two favourite characters from the original strips I read and cartoons I watched, and I hope that Simon Pegg and Nick Frost get more effective material to work with in the sequel. It's easy to notice what needs to be tweaked, since the 3D isn't that good, the characters sometimes need work and the final act really suffers from pacing problems, but when you consider the package of Tintin as a whole, it's still difficult to argue that's a very impressive movie. Fans of the original Tintin media will be pleased to see how well even subtle elements of Herge's original works are translated onto the big screen, even with that fancy CG/motion-capture gloss over it, and newcomers will get a great introduction to the character that may not be the best work in the series' history, but is a great primer to convert a new series of fans, and I suppose that counts for something, since the Tintin stories are highly beloved for a reason, by me and many others. If you've already seen the extremely impressive Mission: Impossible and Sherlock Holmes sequels, and are still looking for a captivating action blockbuster that's safe to bring your family to (for the most part, use discretion with your younger children, since Tintin is not shy about alocholism and violence at times), I think that Tintin is really worth seeing, especially if you can easily appreciate the fantastic visuals. If you're a Tintin fan wondering if you should see the movie, I also highly recommend it, since it's not a perfect Tintin movie, but it's still a really good one that's clearly made with a lot of heart by a highly talented team of filmmakers that are very evidently Tintin fans themselves. You'll have the urge to nitpick, especially towards the end, but try your best to stifle it, and you should have a great time, even if you might want to save yourself the 3D surcharge if you have the option of seeing the movie in 2D. Even if I can easily pick at several elements of the movie, I'm still very excited for the sequel, especially considering that comic book movie sequels often tend to be generally superior to their originals. It may be as late as 2014 or 2015 before Tintin 2 comes to the big screen, according to the filmmakers, but I'm sure that it will be worth the wait, so even if they're not without their shortcomings so far, I'm happy to stand behind the continuation of Tintin's big screen adventures!



FINAL SCORE: 77% "GOOD"

FINAL VERDICT: "The Adventures of Tintin fires on all cylinders from the get-go, even if it starts to come apart in its weak final act, on top of some surprising problems with the characterization and the inexcusably weak 3D presentation. Still, even if it's a flawed beginning for Tintin's big screen adventures, it's still a pretty captivating and entertaining one, so whether you're going for the excitement or the visuals, as a fan or a newcomer, you should have a pretty great time!"