Review of The Adventures of Tintin (2011) by Hector C — 06 Jan 2013

Peter Jackson (producer) directed the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Joe Cornish (writer) directed sci-fi comedy Attack the Block, Edgar Wright (writer) directed Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead and Steven Moffat (writer) is the head writer of hit TV series Sherlock and long-running sci-fi Doctor Who. Big names litter the title sequence credits, but itâ(TM)s the biggest name of the lot that takes the hot seat as director of The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn. And they donâ(TM)t come much bigger than Steven Spielberg.

But more big names can be found on the cast list. Jamie Bell, whom had previously worked with producer Jackson on remake of King Kong, is the titular character, a ginger reporter who, after buying a model of the Unicorn (a ship), becomes obsessed with discovering its secret. This is one of the problems I found with the film, at first Tintinâ(TM)s motives behind discovering the secret is a good story for his newspaper, but then when his life begins to be risked over and over again it seems a bit stupid that he is risking his life for a good story.

Andy Serkis, who had worked with Jackson on four films, is Captain Haddock (and his ancestor Sir Francis Haddock, to whom the Unicorn belonged), a grumpy alcoholic captain who is the key to the secret and Tintinâ(TM)s discovery. Current James Bond Daniel Craig provides the voice of Ivan Ivanovitch Sakharine (and ancestor Red Rackham), the antagonist of the film, who is also after the Secret, Nick Frost and Simon Pegg are a pair of bumbling twin detectives, Toby Jones is a pickpocket and Mackenzie Crook also makes a brief appearance.

I think itâ(TM)s fair to say that the animation in this film is absolutely superb, especially on the people. But sometimes the people look real, and their surroundings do not. That happens a lot and it does get a bit annoying. But the film can be credited for its great action sequences that also bring a comedic edge to the table. The plot may twist and turn, but it isnâ(TM)t very enthralling and felt slightly detached from the film and I didnâ(TM)t really care about the characters.

It seemed to me that Spielberg wanted this to become some sort of adventure film that would have us on the edge of our seats throughout, but its attempts at being audacious and epic are a bit pathetic because the animation gives people strange noses and isnâ(TM)t trying to be realistic. Why they chose to computer generate this film bewilders me, because it just made me think that it was cute and Pixarish.

Its attempts at being big audacious are annoying and the distance I felt between me and the characters bugged me a bit as well, but the animation was incredible, if not consistent, and there were some impressive sequences that were rather memorable.