Review of The Adventures of Tintin (2011) by Carter A — 04 Nov 2012

To a great extent, Tintin is a nice adaptation of the comic books - the visual style is particularly compelling, giving it a "real" feel, yet squarely rooted in animation, which is important for the credibility of this work.

All live-action adaptations I've seen have been awkward because Hergé's style is so particular. Moreover, actors are generally doing a good job all around, doing a faithful portrayal of the characters.

Even so, there are so many strange choices in this film that undermines the overall impression: why merge two different storylines from the comic books, which both stood well on their own: there's no reason to mix the Crab with the Golden Claws with the Rackham story at all, as far as I can tell.

Is that because the writers wanted to tell the story of how Tintin and Haddock met (the first one) AND tell the Rackham story too, just because it gives Haddock more of a sense of purpose? I don't know, but it feels contrived.

There's a series of strange moments that just does not sit well with Hergé: Dueling cranes? Fueling a plane with a burp? Really? Finally, stop with the constant moving of the camera already. Please, it's making me nauseous.

Trying to create momentum by always moving the camera ultimately feels cheap.