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jeriendhalSummary: Intrepid boy reporter, Tintin, buys a model ship at a flea market and finds himself the target of nefarious gangsters on the search for a treasure lost for hundreds of years. On the way, he hooks up with the drunkard Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis), ancestor to the disgraced Sir Francis Haddock, who's ancient secret holds the key to The Secret of the Unicorn
Review: This movie had the potential to be an utter disaster. Mo-cap in animation has a bad reputation to start with, thanks to Robert Zemeckis's obsession with using it under the most inappropriate circumstances. Add in the idea of doing a motion capture, photo-realistic Tintin movie, and you're approaching blasphemy. Herge's artwork in the original graphic novels was legendary, and trying to do a 3-D version of a Tintin adventure, instead of traditional animation that could properly capture his style, seems a ridiculous notion.
Fortunately, Spielberg.and Peter Jackson probably realized that too, so they went in a completely different direction altogether. The essence of Herge's art style was almost pornographic attention to detail, so the film crew took that as their inspiration and produced some of the most beautiful scenery that's every been processed by a computer system. To the point that I think it looked better than a Pixar movie.
I've heard some complaints about the plot, but frankly it all made sense to me. It's a treasure hunt based on a comic (actually two comics, taking elements from The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham's Treasure) so we aren't talking about All the President's Men here. The characters are true to their comic versions. Tittin is clever, brave and a bit bland, Snowy is helpful (when he isn't chasing after bones in the desert) Haddock is a drunken, almost pitiable blowhard, and Thompson and Thomson are well-meaning morons. As an adventure movie it stands on its own even to non-Tintin fans, and for old Tintin fans like me, it's an absolute delight.
Highly Recommended.
Review: This movie had the potential to be an utter disaster. Mo-cap in animation has a bad reputation to start with, thanks to Robert Zemeckis's obsession with using it under the most inappropriate circumstances. Add in the idea of doing a motion capture, photo-realistic Tintin movie, and you're approaching blasphemy. Herge's artwork in the original graphic novels was legendary, and trying to do a 3-D version of a Tintin adventure, instead of traditional animation that could properly capture his style, seems a ridiculous notion.
Fortunately, Spielberg.and Peter Jackson probably realized that too, so they went in a completely different direction altogether. The essence of Herge's art style was almost pornographic attention to detail, so the film crew took that as their inspiration and produced some of the most beautiful scenery that's every been processed by a computer system. To the point that I think it looked better than a Pixar movie.
I've heard some complaints about the plot, but frankly it all made sense to me. It's a treasure hunt based on a comic (actually two comics, taking elements from The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham's Treasure) so we aren't talking about All the President's Men here. The characters are true to their comic versions. Tittin is clever, brave and a bit bland, Snowy is helpful (when he isn't chasing after bones in the desert) Haddock is a drunken, almost pitiable blowhard, and Thompson and Thomson are well-meaning morons. As an adventure movie it stands on its own even to non-Tintin fans, and for old Tintin fans like me, it's an absolute delight.
Highly Recommended.
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Date: 2011-12-23 07:40 pm (UTC)The trailers for it looked interesting, and what I know about Tintin comes from working the reference desk and helping kids find the books [g].
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Date: 2011-12-24 06:12 am (UTC)