Tintin Out

(Tintin dreads the thought of having a Lionel Blair haircut)

The Adventures of Tintin and the Secret of the Unicorn.

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

Directed By Steven Speilberg.

On general release.

I’ve never been a big fan of Tintin, as a matter of fact I’ve just flicked through one of the books, but Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson certainly are. This marks not only their first collaboration but also a wholly computer generated film in 3D and their first dip into the comic book adaptation pool.

I was reading the Metro and I glanced at a full page spread with critics going mental over the film, it starts off with visually arresting opening sequence which shows the quiffed boy reporter’s previous adventures and pays homage to Tintin’s creator Herge.

The storyline written by an impressive team of writers, include Dr Who’s Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish. They’ve amalgamated a few Tintin graphic novels to create a script.

After buying a model ship, the intrepid reporter finds out the replica galleon is sought after by Sakharine (Daniel Craig) who need the model to find “the Secret of the Unicorn.” The models contains scraps of paper which lead to buried treasure.

Along with the help of twin brothers and bungling policemen, the Thompson Twins played by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. Tintin and his faithful dog Snowy are involved in a race against time to stop Sakharine and along the way they meet Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis), a sea captain with a love of booze.

I’m still trying to get my head around how performance capture works, I’m a little bit iffy about this kind of film making process and at best it’s hit and miss. Films like the Polar Express and Christmas Carol haven’t really set the world on fire but one of my favourites has been Beowulf and all of these films were directed by former Speilberg protégé Robert Zemeckis. I know it’s been criticised but I really enjoyed the film and it was quite brave to do a film like that.

Unlike Zemeckis, Spielberg isn’t trying to create photo realism but attempting to combine the feel of Georges Prosper Remi‘s illustrations with state of the art computer generation. In regards to performances most the actors are unrecognisable as their CG counterparts.

I mistook Craig’s Sakharine for actor Bill Nighy, the same goes for Jamie Bell. The actors are totally immersed in their 3D counterparts but Andy Serkis once again comes out on top as the drunken Captain Haddock. Everyone know he’s a dab hand at this he’s even got his own studio to promote motion capture. With Serkis you actually believe he is Haddock living and breathing!

(eh?!)

For Spielberg this marks the end of a long road as he’s wanted to make a film about Belgium’s most famous reporter since the 80s. Although like I mentioned before, I’m not into Tintin but the bearded auteur has enthused this with an old fashioned pulp feel much like the earlier Indiana Jones films. Now that’s not a bad thing is it?

Posted: 28/10/2011
Categories: Movies / Reviews

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