Whether young, old, or somewhere in between, everyone will get a kick out of Steven Spielberg’s latest animated triumph, The Adventures of Tintin. The film has managed to deftly bring to life one of the comic book world’s most beloved characters, while appealing to a huge range of people with its sweeping plot, thrilling adventure and terrific use of 3D technology.
The plot of The Adventures of Tintin is a combination of three original stories from the series: The Crab with the Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn, and Red Rackham’s Treasure. The film opens with Tintin (Jamie Bell), an intrepid young journalist, browsing in an outdoor flea market. He stumbles upon a model of an old ship called the Unicorn. Immediately after he purchases it, Tintin is approached by a sinister man called Ivan Ivanovitch Sakharine (Daniel Craig) and a mysterious American, both of whom try to buy the model off of Tintin without success. His curiosity sufficiently piqued, Tintin starts to look into the background of the Unicorn, and finds that the real ship belonged to the Haddock family. Tintin returns home to find that his apartment has been ransacked and the model ship is missing. Soon afterwards, Tintin is kidnapped and trapped on a ship by Sakharine, who has commandeered Captain Archibald Haddock’s (Andy Serkis) vessel in an attempt to find the long lost Haddock family treasure. What follows is 107 minutes of globe-trotting, Indiana Jones-esque adventure full of intrigue as Tintin tries to put together all the pieces of the mystery with the help of the perpetually drunk Captain Haddock and his ever loyal dog, Snowy.
What smacks one right in the face is how good the animation is. Everything is rendered in extraordinary detail – the nooks and crannies of the model boat, Tintin’s hair ruffling in the wind, every fleck of dusk floating in the midday sun – it all looks so real that one can’t be sure whether it’s an animated film or a live-action film. The 3D technology helps contribute a sense of fullness and realism to the film without making one’s eyes hurt. Spielberg has also given a period look to the whole film, enhancing the nostalgia for those familiar with the Tintin series.
Having never read Tintin before isn’t a problem, because the screenplay (written by Britain’s Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish) weaves together three of Hergé’s stories and creates a whole new plot that everyone can understand, without alienating people who are already fans of the series. It’s hard not to get swept up in all of the action that never slows down. The audience is propelled from one country to the next at a breakneck speed, tagging along with Tintin as he goes on his epic adventure and rooting for him all the way.
The Adventures of Tintin isn’t just an animated film for children, because it is sophisticated enough to be called one of Spielberg’s finest. Spielberg made the right choice when he chose to use animation rather than live action, because he infuses a number of elaborate and wholly enjoyable chase scenes that could have never been achieved through live-action. The cinematography during one such scene in a town in North Africa shows Spielberg’s excellent execution of a brilliantly conceived scene. He seamlessly brings Tintin from a palace on the top of a hill, down into the market below, and into the air in an airplane in a spectacularly choreographed scene that never loses its pacing. Tintin does some pretty amazing feats of human strength that, if it were film with real actors, would lack the grace and elegance of an animated version of the same scene.
The cast provides impressive voices to the characters, especially Andy Serkis as Captain Haddock, who is essentially a functioning alcoholic. He is egotistical, defeated, manic and hilarious all at the same time, helping Tintin uncover his family’s secret as much as he wants to find out himself. Daniel Craig is sufficiently slimy as the evil Sakharine, whose own family history has crossed paths with the Haddocks, and who now wants to seek revenge. Helping Tintin in the sidelines are twin detectives Thompson and Thompson (voiced by British comedic duo Simon Pegg and Nick Frost of Shaun of the Dead fame), who are inadvertently hilarious due to their monumental incompetence. None of these colorful characters draw away from Jamie Bell’s Tintin, however, who brings a liveliness and curiosity to the character. Rounding out the cast is Snowy, Tintin’s clever and almost human-like dog, who also raises the film’s overall cute level.
The Adventures of Tintin is a great adventure film that will be enjoyed by the whole family. It is a thrilling romp of a movie that does great service to the original source material, while bringing a fresh touch to a long-running and cherished series.
Grade: A
