Customer Reviews
By
Crookedmouth "(Son of Olaf)" (Local)
A film by Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg, story by Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish and starring Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig and Pegg & Frost. Sounds good, doesn't it? But 'ware! The subject is one of the most cherished icons of 20th century child's story-telling, held dear by pretty much anyone of a "certain age" and transferred from a distinctive style to modern CGI animation. The potential to fail is strong in this one...Briefly, the story is a mash-up of three well known episodes in the Tintin canon, The Crab with the Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn, and Red Rackham's Treasure. Tintin (Bell) meets Captain Haddock (Serkis) and embark on an action packed search for the Captain' s ancestor's treasure trove. They are joined by two of the more fondly remembered of Tintin's associates, Thompson and Thomson played by Pegg and Frost, (or is it Frost and Pegg?) and stalked by arch criminal Ivan Sakharine (Craig).The film is produced using performance capture animation and it bridges the gap between a live action film and the straight "cartoon" of the Bernasconi animated series. Obviously Tintin purists will have their objections as the film does take *some* liberties with the "look", but to the ordinary audience member, the end product is both impressive and reverential to Herge. If there are any objections to the CGI animation (and there are a few minor ones) I think it's important to remember that the art and technology of CGI is still developing and it would be churlish to criticise too strongly. One criticism I have heard is that the emotional expression of the characters suffers in the CGI process. I'll have none of that! The characters' faces are ex pressive and readable and it is quite easy eventually to forget that they *are* CGI and my wife came out of the cinema remarking that the make-up was very good and she didn't recognise Andy Serkis at all!Most importantly, the animation really does keep the faith with Herge's vision (Herge even appears in a small cameo in the opening sequence) in almost every way. The characters are depicted as 3D versions of his original ligne claire artwork (without the lignes) and it's a big relief that the story is set in the 1940's Tintin universe, "somewhere in Europe", plus-fours, bowler hats, rusty tramp-steamers, schmeisser machine guns and sea-planes galore. The film really retains the film noir "feel" of the original and that will be important to Tintin's fans. The "scenery" is, like Herge's comics, sumptuously populated and I was crying out for a remote control to pause and rewind the film so that I could revisit some of the little details that I half-missed - the covers of magazi nes carelessly tossed onto desktops, the contents of the desk's partly opened drawers, little cameo sequences that take place at the edge of the screen while the main action is front and centre, the array of faces in The Milanese Nightingale's audience and so-on. The film has *huge* rewatch potential and I will be pre-ordering the DVD as soon as it becomes available for this reason alone!The acting is brilliant and all the performers really bring their characters to life. Bell does a fine job and Serkis and Pegg and Frost convey their slapstick antics extremely well. It's good that the actors' performances don't overwhelm the characters' already well-developed personalities. While I've heard some criticism that Serkis overcooks his Haddock, I disagree - the Captain is a larger-than-life personality and Serkis does a fine job with this wonderful character. I am aching, however, to meet Professor Calculus in a sequel (please let it be Destination Moon)!Ol' Steve has been aroun d a while, now and knows a thing or too about the action/adventure genre and he really lets rip with this one. Indiana Jones for kids? I'll say. The action is breath-taking and at nearly two hours in length it's a rollercoaster ride. The motorcycle chase scene, filmed in a single continuous take is the centrepiece of the film. Spielberg bundles you into the sidecar and takes you on a break-neck race, bouncing you off the walls, leaping chasms and leaving you, several minutes later, sitting in a small cloud of dust with steam coming off the seat of your pants and little cork-screws of sweat radiating off your head. The "Long Take" scene is becoming a bit of a cliche in modern cinematography and, I think, looks a little ostentatious in live action film, but in animation it works rather well and left me exhausted and deeply satisfied. And it doesn't let up - in true Spielberg/Indy style, the film barely slows down for a minute. There's plenty of good, Herge slapstick, not too o verdone and obeying the hallowed traditions of visual comedy, and genuine laugh out loud moments aplenty.In the final analysis, The Adventures of Tintin is a top notch family film. It will, like any film of this sort, have its detractors; but what Jackson and Spielberg have achieved is a joyful, exuberant whoop of a film that will appeal to kids of all ages (i.e. anywhere between about 5 and 85) and will offend none but the hardest of Tintin die-hards.Did we enjoy it? Ten thousand thudering typhoons! Of course we did!Six stars
By
Daniel G. Lebryk (Chicago) (TOP 50 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
The Adventure s of Tintin is an enjoyable well done adaptation of the books by Herge. For somebody that knows nothing about Tintin, this is an Indiana Jones-esque story that is fun and action packed. For the Tintin aficionado, this is an amalgamation of three books with some parts that are needlessly extended. The opening credits are almost worth the price of admission. The roughly 3 minutes of credits go through almost all the stories. The graphics are very similar to the books. Tintin, a journalist, buys a model ship at a flea market. It turns out a lot of other people want that ship. There is a bit of mystery, a bit of action, and treasure hunt in the story. The movie is based mostly on the Unicorn series (The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham's Treasure) and The Crab with the Golden Claws. I love the homage to Herge at the beginning of the film, he is the artist doing Tintin's portrait at the flea market. My criticism of the film is the embellishment of a number of scenes. I think the original story left the right kind of gaps in the story to keep me thinking. The film tended to fill in those gaps and lead me too much down the primrose path; I didn't have to think very much with this film. The real pleasure of Tintin is that a person has to think about these stories. The other piece I didn't care for was bringing in Castefiore the opera singer. She really doesn't belong in this story, but Spielberg and Jackson seem to have felt she was a plausible addition. This was filmed in motion capture animation. The film looked really good. That technique has a tendency to look almost too realistic and creepy, not in this film. There was just enough cartoon character to the film, that I never thought this was trying to imitate real life. I saw this in 3D, and can't say it was necessary - I think the film will work just fine in 2D.I really liked the cast. The voices were excellent choices; Jamie Bell is simply fantastic as Tintin. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (Shau n of the Dead, and Hot Fuzz (Widescreen Edition)) are so perfect as Thompson and Thompson. I am a Tintin fan. We have the full DVD set of all the cartoons (these were only available in Canada for a long time and ran on Nickelodeon back in 1991). We also own many of the books. I even have some original antique paper comic books from the early days. I am not a true aficionado of the series, but have loved the original series in French and English. The film is rated PG. Compared to television cartoons, just about any age child could watch this. There's animated violence. The story is a little bit complex, but most children will catch on easily. Almost two years ago I heard that The Adventures of Tintin was in development. I hoped that it would eventually see the light of day in a theater. I am so happy this film was made. It is a wonderful film of my favorite comic book series. This is by far the best filming that has ever been done. The DVD cartoons are very literal translatio ns of the books, with exactly the same graphics and almost the same dialog. The two French live action movies are both pretty campy and not exactly the best films in the world. They stick to the book story lines pretty literally. They are only available in French with no subtitles at all (Tintin: Le Mystere de la Toison D'or / Les Oranges Bleues (French Version)). The Adventures of Tintin is a wonderful film. I enjoyed this film very much.By the way, Marlinspike is a real chateau in France, it is Ch�teau de Cheverny. The chateau is larger than in the cartoon or books - but it is the model Herge used to draw Marlinspike Hall. The grounds look exactly like the cartoon (it's pretty darn amazing to walk up to this Chateau and see exactly what Herge used as his model). The original cartoons are available on DVD: The DVD Box set: The Adventures of Tintin, Vols. 1-5 The Adventures of Tintin, Vols. 6-10The 2011 film: The Adventures of TintinThe new DVD releases: The Adventures Of Ti ntin: Season One The Adventures Of Tintin: Season TwoThe Unicorn 2 part cartoon is also available on Amazon Instant Video: The Secret Of The Unicorn, Part 1 The Secret Of The Unicorn, Part 2Red Rackham's Treasure and The Crab With The Golden Claws are available on Amazon Instant Video. I've included links to those two books in the comments section below.
The Tintin graphic novels follow an unlikely protagonist: a mile mannered, sharp-witted young reporter. There are about two dozen of them, artfully drawn, with a recurring cast of colorful characters woven through various tales. The books have been translated in 50 languages. 200 million copies have been sold around the world, but, oddly, not many of these are in America. T hat makes Tintin something of a rare gem here, and he's part of my family culture. I worried that Speilberg would spoil the magic, ruin the brand. Somehow, he didn't. At all. The film is brilliant. Not only did it capture the tone, pace, and geographic sweep of the novels, it also caught so many details -- facial features of minor characters, body posture, personalities, villains, props, gags, cameo appearances, gestures, curses. It is all there. The motion capture style made it almost lifelike, but clearly not. Just like the novels.It's as if the books had come alive. Another clever adventure with colorful characters in foreign lands half a century ago. Nice to see so many old friends, looking good after all these years.
By
Rajesh Motie "Xanatos Planned This Signature"
It was my younger brother who first got me into Tintin. He told me about some show that he'd watched in French class at school. He often spoke of Tintin, and eventually I looked the series up. It was created by Belgian artist Hergé. Soon I started to check out the comics and my brother and I were watching episodes of the 90's TV series. It's safe to say that we became fans. And I can very happily say that this film captures everything there is to love about Tintin, and then some.It's directed by Steven Spielberd and written by Steven Moffat (Doctor Who), Edgar Wright (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) and Joe Cornish (Attack the Block). It opens with a Saul Bass-esque sequence in a reference to the Tintin storyline "The Seven Crystal Balls", which is so full of energy and charm that I knew I was in for something special. Indeed, every bit of The Adventures of Tintin crackles with energy and charm. Steven Spielberg's use of motion capture certainly does Hergé's clean line art style justice, and at the same time journeys up the opposite side of the uncanny valley. The movie looks amazing, not just in feel, setting, and time-period, but also because it looks just plain real. Tintin (Jamie Bell) himself is a youthful, do-gooder reporter who does minimal reporting and a lot more adventuring on a seemingly endless budget. Bell manages to portray him more mature than usual, and more than ever he seems like a prepubescent who, through his smarts and skills, was accepted into the world of adults. Here he has quite the knowledge of ships and is able to deduce the century that the Unicorn is from. Tintin is joined by his scruffy dog sidekick Snowy, who helps out as well as a dog can. Soon they meet up with someone who would become a long-time friend of Tintin's; Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis). Serkis's lively performance provides much comic relief, and it's clear that he enjoyed playing the character, but Haddock is revea led to be quite important to the goings-on of the story. Interpol Detectives Thomson and Thompson, (Simon Pegg and Nick Frost) who are friends of Tintin, often pop-in to provide their own brand of bumbling inspector comic relief. I really like the way these characters all interact, especially Tintin and Haddock's camaraderie. The villain Sakharine (Daniel Craig), who was but a minor character in "The Secret of the Unicorn", is the weakest link. He's forgettable and you probably won't even recognize Craig, but at least they found a way to connect his character with Haddock's. As Tintin helped to inspire Indiana Jones, you can expect lots of high-flying adventure and over-the-top action to string you along. The action really captures a spirited sense of adventure, and I laughed out loud when I realized just how much I was enjoying myself. They managed to get just the right swooping shots and dizzying angles. I don't think I've seen anything like this happen in the comics and s how, but the Tintin world is just the right place for it anyway, as the original stories have had a strong spirit of adventure. I loved the flashbacks to the time of Sir Francis Haddock, when he and his men fought Red Rackham and his pirates, and then the wonderful battle between the two captains, capped off with the explosion of the Unicorn and the showering fall of her treasure. Then there's the all-out race for the three scrolls that goes on for a ridiculously long time, seemingly destroys the entire fictional port of Bagghar, and is awesome for it. But then there are the small things too, like the pickpocket's subplot. This film is a combination of the storylines "The Crab with the Golden Claws" and "The Secret of the Unicorn" ("Red Rackham's Treasure" doesn't really factor in). The film does a good job of interweaving the stories and adding some new elements. Most of the moments from these stories end up occurring, just in different places and contexts. So take all of t hat and wrap it up in 3D that, for the most part, actually works and that you don't forget is there, and you've got yourself a family film that I heartily enjoyed. And this is only the beginning, now I want to see Professor Calculus, Chang, and more! So, would you like to see some rick-rollicking adventure? A whole lot of Omar Ben Salaad's property being decimated in a crazy chase for 16th century texts? A duel between cranes of the mechanical variety? Good 3D? Then look no further than Tintin. 9 out of 9
By
Ricardo "rapt3" (S�o Paulo, Brazil)
I am a huge Tintin fan since I was 12! I used to watch the Nelvana cartoon with my family back in the 90's and I never missed one single episode of it!! Besides, that's the TV series that introduced me to t he character.Having grown up with the series, at that time I had no idea that it was inspired on a series of comics written by Belgian writer George Remi (Hergé), so when Internet finally came in the late 90's I started to search for those comics, and boy, I had a hell of a thrill ride!With that said, needless to say that I was eagerly waiting for this movie! Of course there is some other movie adaptations out there, but truth being told, they never made much justice to the supreme creation of Hergé.By the way, Hergé used to say that the only person alive capable of taking his creation to the big screen was Steven Spielberg. And boy, he was 100% right!!This first adaptation of the Tintin adventures around the world is brilliant!! More than brilliant!! It's perfect!! Seriously, the only thing more perfect than this would be if Spielberg copied the entire stories from the comics to the form of a movie. And don't get me wrong, he did keep the original story by Hergé almost intact in this movie, but being the great filmmakers that he and Peter Jackson are, they decided to have a take on more than one story per movie and put those stories to work together as a whole. Did it work? Oh yeah!In this first movie of a hopeful long series of movies (Hergé made 24 Tintin stories!!) they decide to introduce us to the characters. They introduce to the Tintin rookies the main character, the reporter Tintin and his dog Milou, who are two courageous fellas who are always ready for adventure. We also manage to meet the Dupont twins on this movie, two silly and dumb police officers and Captain Haddock, the longtime friend of the main character. Even the Moulinsart Castle and the lovely Bianca Castafiore was there.The stories chosen to this movie was "The Crab with the Golden Claws" (where Tintin and Haddock met for the first time), "The Secret of the Unicorn" and "The Red Rackham's Treasure", three of the most exciting stories of the Tintin collection.The animation is fantastic, fluent and the digital sets take your breath away. The acting is superb, they got the right cast to act, Andy Serkis as Haddock is spectacular!! And that's another strong point in the movie, the characterization of almost every character on Tintin's universe was kept intact, except for Dr. Sakharin, who in the original stories was never a descendant from Red Rackham, but it was a nice addition and brought more drama and interesting developments to the script.The humor is top notch!! I laughed out loud with the drunk jokes in the movie, in fact, I laughed out loud in the entire movie!! It was fantastic!! Being able to see all those beloved characters from my youth in the big screen exactly the way I used to know them was just great!!As for the story, well it's the story everyone as a fan already know. It was the same story we know from the comics and the Nelvana cartoon, but told differently, so, except for the Sakharin devel opment, there was no surprises at all for me in terms of story.The only character I missed on the movie was Professor Tryphon Tournesol. I just love this scientist. He is deaf, but doesn't know it, so he gets everything wrong and usually causes a lot of trouble, but he have a heart of gold. I was eagerly hoping to see Prof. Tournesol on the movie with his shark submarine, but I guess I'll have to wait for the next one.And boy, I will be eagerly waiting for the next one, the one Peter Jackson will direct. I seriously hope to see more Tintin movies from now on. I'm also really sad that the film went so bad in the USA, I guess US people didn't get the point of Tintin, but I hope they will next time.Anyway, great movie, wonderful adaptation, I hope to see more of this, and I will finish my review by saying: Great Snakes and Blistering Barnacles!! Go for Tintin!!! You won't regret it!!
By
D. C. Ober "Audiophile" (Boston, MA) (REAL NAME)
Stephen Spielberg released The Adventures of Tintin nearly simultaneously with his other film, War Horse. The two are strike an interesting contrast with each other. Where War Horse plays the role of the classic Hollywood epic, Tintin serves as its hyperactive younger brother. Most in the Anglophone world are, at best, nominally familiar with the strangely coifed titular character, Tintin, but he's a pretty big deal among the Francophone part of the globe. My history with the character is modest, having only watched a short lived animated version on Nickelodeon when I was a kid. So I'm familiar with some of the characters, but I couldn't tell you how the movie stacks up to the source material. But the film itself is rather unruly, at times providing exciting action but also failing to tell a fully engaging story.Tintin is a boy reporter (his age is somewhat ambiguous) who has a penchant for discovering vast plots that require quite a bit of globetrotting to uncover. The film opens with Tintin buying an old model ship, a replica of the lost galleon The Unicorn, at a flea market. He snatches it up mere moments before another buyer, Mr. Sakharine, arrives to pick up the ship. Tintin rebuffs any offer from Sakharine to purchase the MacGuffin, er, ship, from Tintin at a sizeable profit. Needless to say, the model ship is more than it first appears, and in fact it comprises part of a series of clues that lead to a long ago lost treasure. Sakharine doesn't take Tintin's refusal to sell kindly, ransacking the intrepid hero's apartment and eventually kidnapping him and storing him on a large steamship. The ship's captain, Captain Haddock, has been deposed by Sakharine and the mutinous crew. Tintin and Haddock team up to stop Sakharine and discover the secret behind the fate of the Unicorn and its treasure, a secret that has familial ties to Haddock himself, since it was his grandfather who captained the Unicorn before it became lost at sea.Perhaps more so than Tintin himself, Haddock seems to be the fan favorite character. He's a bit of a drunken buffoon, and while I would imagine he wouldn't be the ideal partner for world wide adventuring, he's great fun to watch. Tintin was filmed using motion capture techniques, similar to the ones used in those Robert Zemeckis films, Beowulf and The Polar Express. This isn't my favorite kind of animation because, as others have noted, the combination of animated characters and eerily realistic movement tends to produce an uncanny valley effect. However, this technique does allow Andy Serkis to put in an enjoyably cartoonish performance in the role of Haddock. Serkis has become the go to man for motion capture performances-- he's kind of a 21st century Lon Chaney--and his robust performance is a highlight of the film. He plays Haddock as a perpetually energetic man who has little control over his own drinking, downing bottles of liquor before he has a chance to even think about it. To his credit, Spielberg keeps all of the now risqué drunkard jokes, refusing to pander to his audience. And while Haddock's alcoholism is often played for laughs, he's also chastised once or twice by Tintin, even if he never gives up the drink.Much of the film is an excuse for Spielberg to deliver one fantastic action piece after another without regard to pesky things like the laws of physics. There are some fantastic moments, including a battle between two ships during a raging storm and a crash landing in the desert. But perhaps the most thrilling part of the film is a chase through a Middle Eastern bizarre that takes place in a single, long shot. In these moments we see Spielberg eager to play with animatio n in ways that he can't in live action. Unfortunately, it's in the moments between the action that the movie seems unsure of itself. Like a jittery kid on a sugar rush, the movie can hardly sit still for a moment. The film is a series of action set pieces strung together with exposition as epoxy. This means that when the adventure should feel exciting, it sometimes feels exhausting. (I did see the movie in 3D, which may have only exacerbated this problem). This seems to be a problem that's worse in animated films. With the exception of Pixar, most animation studios feel the need to barrage the viewer with constant noise and unending movement, like they're shaking a pair of toy keys in front of a baby. Filmmakers need to let these films breath, to find a natural rhythm. Unfortunately, Tintin is no exception to this rule.The director and film theorist, Sergei Eisenstein wrote extensively about the concept of dialectic, the synthesis of two seemingly opposing elements. We see t his in plenty of Eisenstein's films and, strictly from the point of view of entertainment, the audience is wrenched from one emotional state to another. In his most famous film, Battleship Potemkin, Eisenstein precedes the massacre on the Odessa steps with images of celebration of the arrival of the rebellious crew of the Potemkin. The contrast between celebratory citizens and the gory images of innocents being gunned down makes the film that much more compelling. Likewise, an action film, at the very least, needs moments of calm in order to further elevate the moments of gunplay and fisticuffs. Spielberg has done wonders with this kind of contrast in other films. The famous caravan chase in Raiders of the Lost Ark, for example, comes after a grueling and atmospheric descent into the Well of Souls. It's only because we have followed Indiana Jones through a pit of snakes that we are now ready to release all that built up tension by watching him slug some Nazis. These days Spi elberg almost always excels when it comes to laying out the action, but he would be well served to pay as much attention to the part of the film where bullets aren't whizzing by.
By
Andre M. "brnn64" (Mt. Pleasant, SC United States) (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)
I have never read any of the Tintin books. I have never seen any episodes of the cartoon. I knew nothing at all about Tintin other than he was a Belgian cartoon character (whose books were sometimes controversial) and I usually hate CGI films to boot.But once I got into the theater and was beginning to follow the story, I was soon on the edge of my seat! This movie is one long exciting adventure that will keep you on the ed ge of your seat! It has everything you can ask for in a movie of this kind: Likeable heroes (Tintin, the Captain, and Snowy the dog), Snidely whiplash style moustache twirling villains, comedy relief bunglers, and TONS of adventure and action. In one film, you will see swasbuckling swordfighting pirates, French foreign legionnaires, animal fights, wild plane rides, harrowing motorcycle chases across some really great scenery. Oh what good old fashioned rip roaring FUN! I took my nephew to see this and it was like thrilling to Flash Gordon with my dad when I was a kid all over a kid. This movie will bring the adventure loving 12 year old out in the most serious of adults and you will stand up and cheer!Oh yeah, the "ending" (which I will not reveal here) will have have you yelling, "SEQUEL!" Guess we'll have to wait until around 2014.After seeing this, I plan to read some of the Tintin books and get the DVDs of the cartoon show, so if you love good clean thrilling fun (well, aside from the fact that the captain is a drunkard) of the Doc Savage/Indiana Jones school, I have two words for you-SEE IT! When the DVD comes out, bring your friends and their families over and make a fun evening out of it.
By
David Bonesteel (Fresno, CA United States) (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)
Intrepid newspaper man Tintin (Jamie Bell) and his faithful dog Snowy team up with a drunken sea captain (Andy Serkis) in a race with the dastardly Ivan Ivanovitch Sakharine (Daniel Craig) to crack the mystery behind three scrolls hidden in model ships. Will European audiences accept Hollywood's interpre tation of a beloved character, and will US audiences line up for it?Like so many Americans, I'm out of the loop on Tintin. I was aware of the character's popularity in the soccer-loving part of the world and could have picked him out of a lineup, but that was about it. Therefore, although I was hugely entertained by this film, I can't comment on its fidelity to the source material. (However, the fact that Herge himself reportedly felt Spielberg was the only one who could do justice to his character bodes well on that count.) The over-the-top exploits that sank "Crystal Skull" for so many people (swinging through the treetops with the monkeys, `nuff said) go down much easier in CGI, which straddles the line between the visceral impact of live action and the suspension of the laws of physics allowed by animation quite successfully here. Tintin is a bit of a cypher--he looks like a teenager but he has his own apartment, everyone treats him like an adult, and his collection of n ews clippings is evidence of an eventful career. The most interesting character is really the drunken Captain Haddock, whose arc takes him from a pathetic souse to something much greater. I'll dock it one star because the action goes on perhaps just a hair too long, which makes the perfectly good denouement suffer by comparison. I'm on board for any sequels, and I'm thinking that the original books might be fun to read with my young son...
By
Sincerely Yours (TOP 1000 REVIEWER) (VINE VOICE)
Loved the movie, they pitched the personality of the key characters spot on! Bought back a lot of childhoo d memories. The 3d animation was brilliantly mastered and spielberg did it again. It was quiet an action packed move and there was a hint of Indiana jones, pirate sofmcarribean in it too. It will make you laugh, giggle, oooooh, exciting and truely an all round family movie, although my hubbie thought the special effects were very realistic in places and though therer were pieces with the violence that maybe a little realistic for young kinds below 10: you have been advised!
By
Michael Harbour "mharbour" (Portland, Oregon) (REAL NAME)
A headlong adventure movie in the spirit of the Indiana Jones movies and the matinee serials that inspired them. In fact, Tintin no doubt w as an inspiration in the creation of Indiana Jones and it's wonderful to see Tintin brought to the big screen so grandly and successfully. I was decidedly unfriendly to the choice of animation style but was won over completely; Spielberg and company have somehow managed to make perhaps the most troubling animation style in existence seem both astonishingly realistic and comfortingly classic at the same time. That is an amazing accomplishment. That it is accomplished in the service of such a fun cinematic romp is a treat to experience.
| 
No comments:
Post a Comment