Summary: The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn isthe first in the series of 3D motion capture films based on the iconiccharacter created by Georges Remi, better known to the world by his pen name"Herge". (Paramount Pictures)
Hergé's resourceful young Belgian reporter comes to the bigscreen in a film directed by Spielberg, produced by Peter Jackson (who'lldirect the sequel) and using motion capture, the expensive, rather tiresomedigital process that exists in a no-man's-land between live action andanimation. It starts well in a charming 1930s Brussels before Tintin (JamieBell) goes in pursuit of three hidden manuscripts that will lead him to ancienttreasures.
On to the search is grafted an extended flashback to the17th century involving the nautical ancestors of the boozy Glaswegian CaptainHaddock, with whom Tintin and his dog Snowy escape from a tramp steamer, hijacka seaplane and cross the desert to Morocco. It resembles a conflation ofRaiders of the Lost Ark and Pirates of the Caribbean with John Williams's musicalways on the point of bursting into the Indiana Jones triumphal march. It'sfairly enjoyable, rather bland, less fun dramatically and graphically than theHergé comics. But it should do well through massive advertising, a procedureknown, I believe, as "Pushing Tintin".
There’s a regular lament among film critics – and filmgoers– that there are no new stories anymore. That there are too many remakes andtoo many reimaginings that empty their bladders over familiar tales and fondmemories – and yes, I’m looking at you, Burton.
So how to greet the news that Steven Spielberg and PeterJackson – perhaps the two finest, most imaginative directors of theirgeneration – were uniting to put their own (motion captured) spin on Hergé’sadventures of boy journalist/explorer Tintin? Joy that it was in such safehands? Ambivalence to a revamp of tales already 80 years old? Dismay thatchildhood memories were about to be Burtoned? Abject horror and nightmarishthoughts of the blank-faced animated “actors” of The Polar Express?
Well done if you took the first option for you can now besupremely smug: The Adventures of Tintin is an absolute belter. Whether you’recoming to it fresh, are a Hergé-quoting addict or, like me, just have fondmemories of the animated series during summer holidays, it’s an absolutebelter. It’s slick, exciting, laugh-out-loud funny, sympathetic to its origins,superbly voiced and leaves you wanting more and when was the last time you feltlike that about a movie?
After a superb opening credits sequence, the story unfoldsat a cracking pace (albeit still with time for some affectionate hints at theoriginal illustrations via a convenient caricaturist). Tintin (Bell) spies amodel ship for sale in a market. As he purchases it, a passing American triesto buy it off him, with a warning that the model brings great danger as amysterious “they” will stop at nothing to get it. That’s swiftly followed by asimilar offer from Sakharine who, you suspect – given that he’s played by Craig– is probably the “they” in question. And you’d be right.
The ship, you see, is a model of the Unicorn, a vessel oncecaptained by a man named Haddock. There’s a legend attached to the ship, themodel contains a clue to well, something, and Sakharine will indeed stop atnothing – including the kidnappings of Tintin and the last known member of theHaddock family – to uncover the secret.
And thus begins a series of joyous set pieces, thrillingfights and exciting escapes as Tintin, Captain Haddock (Serkis) and Sakharinechase each other around the globe in a rip-roaring tale of piracy, treasure andrevenge. The 3D is superb but not over-the-top (although it’s great to see alittle bit of “pointy stick out of the screen”) and the motion capture isstunning: everything feels real yet remains firmly in the world imagined sobeautifully by Hergé. The jokes are funny (even the slapstick of the Thompson"twins", thanks in no small part to the work of Pegg and Frost), thebackground detail is jaw-dropping and there appear to be a lot of well observedin-jokes and Tintin references for those that like to hunt for such things.It’s also a reminder of just how great a director of action Spielberg can be:several sequences here are on a par with Raiders, while a couple probablysurpass it.
It’s charming, funny, edge-of-the-seat exciting,affectionate, just a whole heap of good things. Go and remind yourself whatcinema is made for.
Many questioned director Steven Spielberg and producer PeterJackson’s decision to render Hergé’s classic series of comic-book Boy’sOwn-style adventures in performance-capture animation. But it’s hard to imaginethat either live action or traditional animation would have been capable ofproducing the thrilling blend of high drama, physical authenticity and visualinvention found here. Ending a three-year hiatus following his disappointing‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’, ‘Tintin’ finds are-energised Spielberg atoning for that misstep with a film which, in both itsrip-roaring, globe-trotting narrative and its visceral dedication to purewhite-knuckle thrills, is the true successor to his original ‘Indy’ trilogy.
We first meet our ageless hero sitting for an artist’sportrait in the market square of his unspecified home town (in the first in along series of witty, self-reflective sight gags, the caricature looks justlike a Hergé drawing). Tintin’s eye is caught by a junk stall and a model shipon display. This is the Unicorn – a sixteenth-century Watch The Adventures of Tintin Online Free three-masted galleonwhich went down with all hands and a belly full of booty. The hunt for thistreasure will send Tintin, his faithful dog Snowy and a mounting cadre ofsupporting players on a voyage across oceans and deserts, by ship, plane, jeep,motorbike and, perhaps most memorably, haulage crane.
Sticking to Hergé’s idea of Tintin as a relatively passive,colourless hero surrounded by outlandish archetypes, Spielberg and a crack teamof British comedy writers – Joe Cornish, Edgar Wright, Steven Moffat – fill thescreen with wonderfully bizarre and memorable characters, chiefly theinimitable Captain Haddock, a floundering, whisky-breathed soak gloriouslyrealised by Andy Serkis. And while this means a few characters get overlooked –we never get a handle on Daniel Craig’s moustache-twirlingly villainousSakharine, for instance – it does make for a notable absence of dull moments.
Visually, the film is astounding, as Spielberg takes fulladvantage of the freedom of his chosen medium. A mid-film flashback sequence,as Haddock recounts the sinking of the Unicorn, must rank as one of thedirector’s finest set-pieces, a dizzying mish-mash of impossible trackingshots, manic action and some of the most inventive scene transitions everdevised. This level of visual intensity can become bewildering – a laterMoroccan chase sequence pushes things too far, resulting in sheer confusion –but for the most part, it’s exhilarating.
So, while it may lack the depth and humanity of masterpieceslike ‘Jaws’ and ‘ET’, ‘Tintin’ is without doubt the finest example ofSpielberg’s family-friendly fun side since ‘Jurassic Park’. It’s also the mostcreative, enjoyable and invigorating blockbuster of the year.
Paramount Pictures and Columbia Pictures Present a 3D MotionCapture Film The Adventures of Tintin directed by Steven Spielberg from ascreenplay by Steven Moffat and Edgar Wright & Joe Cornish. Starring JamieBell as Tintin, the intrepid young reporter whose relentless pursuit of a goodstory thrusts him into a world of high adventure, and Daniel Craig as thenefarious Red Rackham. -- (C) Official Site
Steven Spielberg was apparently turned on to the Belgiancomicstrip hero Tintin while making his first Indiana Jones films, so it seemsentirely fitting that his motion-capture animation "The Adventures ofTintin: The Secret of the Unicorn" should rep such a rollicking return toaction-adventure form, especially after the disappointment of "IndianaJones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." Clearly rejuvenated by hiscollaboration with producer Peter Jackson, and blessed with a smart script andthe best craftsmanship money can buy, Spielberg has fashioned a whiz-bangthrill ride that's largely faithful to the wholesome spirit of his source butstill appealing to younger, Tintin-challenged auds. Pic should do thunderingtyphoon biz globally, but will whirl especially fast in Europe.
Paramount release is skedded to bow Oct. 22 in Euroland andthen roll out worldwide, hitting North America just in time for Christmas. It'sa canny distribution strategy that will maximize exposure and B.O. potential inthe territories that know Belgian artist Herge's source material best, therebybuilding up a solid rep before the pic reaches the U.S., where Tintin is stilleffectively a cult figure, known mostly among comicbook fans and Europhilecognoscenti.
Paramount release is skedded to bow Oct. 22 in Euroland andthen roll out worldwide, hitting North America just in time for Christmas. It'sa canny distribution strategy that will maximize exposure and B.O. potential inthe territories that know Belgian artist Herge's source material best, therebybuilding up a solid rep before the pic reaches the U.S., where Tintin is stilleffectively a cult figure, known mostly among comicbook fans and Europhilecognoscenti.
Early buzz on fan sites indicated that expectations weren'thigh for Spielberg's take on the material, given the arguably overused devicesof 3D and motion-capture. Working hand-in-hand with Jackson, however, thedirector and his team have deployed both technologies with subtle finessethroughout, exploiting 3D's potential just enough to make the action scenesthat much more effective without overdoing it; likewise, the motion-captureperformances have been achieved with such exactitude they look effortless, tothe point where the characters, with their exaggerated features, almostresemble flesh-and-blood thesps wearing prosthetic makeup.
Indeed, in the early going auds might wonder why thefilmmakers bothered with motion-capture at all. But the choice starts to makesense once Snowy, Tintin's faithful white terrier, performs antics not even thebest-trained pooch could perform and the sets, stunts and action sequencesbecome ever more lavish.
Extreme Tintin purists might quibble that the screenplay, byall-Brit team Steven Moffat ("Doctor Who"), Edgar Wright ("Shaunof the Dead") and Joe Cornish ("Attack the Block"), doesn'tstick to the letter of Herge's original strips. But others will appreciate howskillfully it shuffles and restacks elements from three of the adventures:slices from "The Crab With the Golden Claws" (published in 1943), thelion's share from "The Secret of the Unicorn" and a wee bit from"Red Rackham's Treasure" (both published in 1945). The remainder ofthe latter book will presumably bedrock the inevitable sequel.
Accompanied by his mutt mate Snowy, boy reporter Tintin(voiced by and based on the movements of Jamie Bell) buys a scale model of anold ship called the Unicorn at an outdoor market in an unnamed city with bothFrench and English writing on its storefronts -- a sly bit of fudging that tipsits hat to the fact that the books were retranslated for every country theywere published in. Two other men immediately try to repurchase the model offhim, first sinister gent Sakharine (Daniel Craig) and then an American namedBarnaby (Joe Starr).
Tintin refuses, and once he realizes the ship contains a vitalclue about the location of missing treasure, the ever-inquisitive lad beginshis adventure in earnest. Eventually he's kidnapped and spirited off to theKaraboudjan, a steamer nominally under the command of one Capt. ArchibaldHaddock (Andy Serkis), whose permanent state of inebriation has left himpowerless against the machinations of Sakharine.
Haddock, it transpires, is the last remaining descendant ofSir Francis Haddock (also Serkis in flashbacks) a 17th-century naval commanderwho lost his ship, the Unicorn, in a battle with pirates led by Red Rackham(Craig). Tintin helps Haddock escape, and after a detour in the Sahara and abravura chase through the fictional city of Bagghar, Watch The Adventures of Tintin Online Free Morocco (all done in oneshot), they make their way back to their point of origin. Along the way,they're aided and abetted by two bumbling, identical Interpol officers namedThomson and Thompson (Wright regulars Nick Frost and Simon Pegg, respectively),who aren't that critical to the plot but are helpful in terms of comic relief.
Aside from a crack about a shepherd said to have shown toomuch enthusiasm for animal husbandry, the humor throughout is resolutelyPG-friendly, lacking in the knowing irony and snarky, anachronistic wisecracksthat have become such predictable fixtures of other recent blockbusters andreboots. Spielberg largely honors the innocent, gung-ho tone of the originalstories, with their air of boyish derring-do (femme characters barely featureat all here), sensibly shunning the racist and anti-Semitic elements that justwon't wash with contempo auds. Result is retro without being stodgy orantiquated; Tintin himself, for instance, has a more mischievous glint in hiseye than the wide-eyed naif of the strips, which makes him feel more modern, ifcuriously unplaceable in terms of age.
The worst that could be said of "The Secret of theUnicorn" is that the action is so relentless, it nearly comes to feel likea videogame as it leaps from one challenge to the next. Younger auds willembrace it more than older ones, although even teens may feel it lacks thekitsch majesty that made "Avatar" such a hit.
Toon geeks are likely to be among "Tintin's"biggest fans, so consistently stylish and richly detailed is its design work.With immense sensitivity, the animators have translated Herge's spare, elegantdrawings into a multidimensional world that seems realistic (especially in itsuse of chiaroscuro lighting, which plays wonderfully with sunlight and shadowsthroughout) yet still charmingly stylized and cartoony. Perhaps the film'ssweetest joke comes at the very beginning, when a street artist, modeled on thereal Herge, does a quick-sketch portrait of Tintin that looks exactly like oneof the original strips.
