Review of The Adventures of Tintin (2011) by Dan H — 25 Aug 2012

Blistering barnacles! How could a film directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by Peter Jackson fail to entertain? Quite easily, it seems. As an exercise in technical wizardry, this succeeds quite spectacularly, for the most part.

However, the one thing the mo-cap technology still can't solve is the cgi dead-eye problem. Hair, skin, motion, lip-synch may all be replicated, but the spark of life remains missing. And sadly, this means that for the entire film there is a complete lack of emotional connection, the whole thing feeling like one long videogame cut-scene.

Spielberg also tries too hard to replicate the fantastic slapstick action of his Indiana Jones films; but there is so much of it packed in here that before long it grows tiresome. Spielberg & Jackson could learn a thing or two from Pixar about how to make a great CGI film; the minimalism of Finding Nemo, The Inredibles or Up just makes Tintin appear too clever by half.