The Adventures of Tintin

Before his passing in 1983, Hergé said that if any filmmaker was to adapt his collection of timeless tales following the adventures of a Belgian reporter to the big screen, Steven Spielberg was the only man for the job, and after two decades of trial and error, the cinematic version of Tintin has finally reached our screens with the desired director at its helm. Alongside Spielberg sits Lord of the Rings (2001-2003) maestro Peter Jackson as producer and three of Britain's brightest writers (Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish) who have that almost impossible task of translating the stories from comic strips to 35mm. This 3D motion-capture and CGI extravaganza combines three of Tintin's most beloved outings (The Crab with the Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham's Treasure) and hits UK multiplexes just before the school half-term.

After discovering an elegant model of the ship the 'Unicorn' at a market, Tintin (voiced by Jamie Bell) and his loyal dog Snowy are intrigued as to why so many desire it, and comment on the secrets it holds. When the model is stolen, more information surfaces and the pair set out to discover the truth, teaming up, after a surprise meeting, with the boisterous drunkard Captain Haddock (voiced by Andy Serkis). The group's adventure spans the globe, with each destination bringing more danger and that crucial step closer towards unravelling the mystery.

From the moment the picture opens, the film's tone and mood is set: mystery and adventure merged with fun and frolics. The classy, hand-drawn, animated titles use the signature silhouette imagery with style and sophistication, making the wit and wonder evident even before audiences have graced their eyes on the monumental motion capture work.

In a rather lacklustre year for animation, with the only true blossom of beauty being Studio Ghibli's impeccable 'Arrietty', Spielberg's latest thankfully ends this dry-run with a picture that explodes with vibrancy, craftsmanship and realism. Unlike Robert Zemeckis' motion-capture entries (The Polar Express [2004] and A Christmas Carol [2009]); The Adventures of Tintin is an entirely different bunch of blistering blue barnacles – every frame enforces impeccable detail and naturalism, and like the best animated pictures, viewers will forget they are watching digitalised representations in no time. Whether the visuals are mind-blowing as in the all-important action sequences – or brilliantly subtle – like the red, sweat-streaked cheeks and brows of Tintin and Haddock as they trek through a desert – this film is a clear example of just how magnificent technology is in this day and age.

Without a shadow of a doubt this is the year's finest animated entry – expect an Oscar nomination and a deserved win. As well as its tremendous visual flair, the feature's script is a revelation: beautifully written and whimsical dialogue that is frequently hilarious and manages to merge the three classic tales so seamlessly. Considering Hergé's stories are separate volumes, the typing trio behind this movie are able to make a sensible structure with the texts, making the film flow as gracefully as its perfect imagery. As well as the laughs, the script provides great character development for those new to the world of Tintin without insulting audiences with an hour's lesson. Young children will have no trouble picking up who's who in the early stages, before settling back for the incredible roller coaster ride of the second and climatic act.

Action fans will gain greatness from this movie too. Expect high octane chases, pirate swordplay and more bullets than a Sylvester Stallone entry – just a lot less gore and swearing. In fact, although The Adventures of Tintin is action-packed, its PG certificate is justified; I cannot recall anything remotely damaging or frightening for young eyes, so parents have nothing to fear with this one when deciding on their half-term picture.

The film also sees the much needed return of composer John Williams who provides yet another dazzling and effective score. The music captures the essence of the film in an instant and compliments it throughout.

The voice casting is collectively brilliant with Bell and Serkis being the obvious standouts. Bell's inquisitive tone and frequent high-pitched bursts mirror the speech bubbles Tintin utters in the comic panels. When reading a Hergé story, this is exactly how the character sounds in your head. Serkis steals the show as Captain Haddock and is given splendid dialogue to growl through bitter Scottish chords. Haddock's often stupid remarks and forgetfulness is beautifully represented through the animated character. Daniel Craig is also fantastic as the less-than-trustworthy Ivanovich Sakharine while Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are side-splitting as the lovable policing dunces Thomson and Thompson. Plus Snowy is absolutely wonderful.

There is no doubt that Spielberg's adaptation will be top of the box office upon release and hopefully those new to Tintin will be influenced to re-visit the books and television shows of yesteryear and become more involved with one of the century's most beloved and important literary creations.

Verdict: ••••• 'The Adventures of Tintin' is quintessentially the perfect family film and has plenty to offer audiences of all ages. This is an incredibly joyous, thrilling and comically genius adventure. Hergé was onto a winner with his thoughts towards Spielberg and he can rest easy now knowing his tales have been faithfully and beautifully translated into a cinematic masterwork. Great Snakes, it's good.

What begins as a fun, nimble little mystery in the first act soon kicks into comedy-action-adventure high gear when junior reporter Tintin, with his brave dog Snowy, stumbles upon boozy Captain Haddock (an excellent Andy Serkis), whose family legacy may prove pivotal in a race to uncover the secret of the Unicorn.

From that point on, it's more or less non-stop comedy—some fizzles, most of it works—with gags ranging from jaw-dropping blockbuster chase antics to throwaway background humour. Captain Haddock works brilliantly for the most part: he's unpredictable, endearing, and colourful in all the ways Tintin himself isn't. While the youngster is well played by Jamie Bell, he's mostly just there to work out the clues for the audience. Tintin and Haddock make for a good double-act, though: brains and brawn, cunning and in-over-his-head rashness; together they'd make a good Indiana Jones.

The plot is a by the numbers mystery/adventure/treasure hunt, complete with bumbling detectives (so-so comic support from Simon Pegg and Nick Frost), exciting sea plane action and hidden clues, but it's brought to life in gorgeous visual style. While the script only comes alive in fits and starts, the whole film is bursting with rich detail, and is given added depth by a good, solid use of 3D. The virtual camera-work throughout is stupendous.

One extended chase sequence through the flooding streets of a North African city is so dazzling and dizzying it reminded me why no other filmmaker can match Spielberg when he lets his imagination out for a spin. Another action scene, told in flashback, depicts a breathless pirate showdown in a storm, and features some of the most playful transitions I've seen since Ang Lee's Hulk. There's a pretty good villain, too, played by a wily Daniel Craig.

Snowy, while definitely smarter than your average cute canine, is also given to chasing cats, digging up fossilised bones from the desert, and gobbling sandwiches at decidedly inopportune moments. In other words, he's an instant audience favourite.

All in all, it's a rollicking good adventure, one of Spielberg's most fun movies in a long time, and I'll be buying it on Blu-ray next year.

As you may know Tin Tin is a very old character and there has been books and TV programs made about his great adventures by his inventor Hergé. This new film has been voted the best animated film and once you've seen this film you'll know why. The film is well paced out and there's never a dull moment in this film. The 3D in this film is spectacular and it's well worth seeing this film in 3D if you can. The film is around 1 hour 47 minutes long and in this time Steven Spielberg manages to squash in a good few adventures into one in this film. This makes it much more exciting and you really get to know how Tin Tin and Captain Haddock were in the old days. As a projectionist, I've seen this film about 6 times now and I still don't get bored watching it. Absolutely brilliant film, I really recommend going to see this film as soon as you can. Hope the review helps your thoughts on the film. Thanks for reading, I'll be making more reviews on the films that I see at my cinema so you can get the latest thoughts from me on the films. Thanks again BPH projectionist

First off, this is the first time I ever write a review in here. For once, I felt compelled to do it because... Well... because I'm Belgian and grew up on a steady Tintin diet, like most Belgians my age and older. The comics... not the cartoons. Needless to say I'm a old fan.

I also happen to be a fan of Spielberg's, probably since seeing E.T. when I was about 5 years old. The two could be mutually exclusive. I could take the role of the harcore comics fan who despises the adaptation, or the rabid Spielby fan forgiving everything.

Thankfully, after having the chance to see it before most people out here in Belgium and everywhere else thanks to a journalist buddy, I found out I can to be none of the above. Spielberg and Jackson and all the team behind the adaptation obviously gave the original material the love and respect it deserved, while making it their own.

To clarify the origins of the story itself, you have to know that it isn't the adaptation of one, but three Tintin comics. Its beginning takes root in "Le Crabe aux Pinces D'or", while the rest of the movie revolves around the two-albums story of the hunt for Rakham the Red's treasure, "Le Secret de la Licorne" and "Le Trésor de Rakham le Rouge". While it could seem like a lot of material for a whole movie, the choice of blending those three (two and a half) stories together turns out giving the movie a rather perfect pacing.

To kill a double controversy in the making, and like I've already read in a couple critics: Tintin has always been a "bland" character in the comics. He has no asperities. He is brave, always gets out of the tangles he gets in, he is a good guy, he doesn't know doubts... Tintin as a character has his limits, dramatically speaking, and even Hergé knew that... It is actually the reason for the appearance of Captain Haddock after a few albums. Haddock is the dark side of Tintin, prone to anger and shouting insults, hard drinker, natural born loser... Far from a being just a comical sidekick, Haddock is the human counterpart to the flawless hero that Tintin is (remember, this is a comic, originally aimed at kids and older kids). The movie has the intelligence of starting off the big screen adventures of Tintin with the two meeting up and becoming friends, a real turning point in the continued adventures of Tintin.

The movie also deftly skips what could have been a typically Hollywoodish mistake of giving Tintin exposition. But none of that nonsense here. Tintin is a reporter, that's all you need to know. That's all the comics ever told us about him. None of them ever showed Tintin doing actual reporter work. I don't think he ever used a typewriter, he has no boss, no workplace. Tintin just finds himself where adventure is. Because he's a reporter. Hergé never needed more, kudos for the guys behind this movie for keeping true to that. It will be held against them, but that will be coming from people who don't know the original material.

But I somehow had little worries about that, honestly. It was only obvious they wouldn't touch the spirit of what's considered a classic worldwide. Well, not those guys. I had more doubts about the transition from Hergé's "Ligne Claire" type of drawing to CGI's and even more so to the use of 3D. And that's where I was truly impressed. Not that I'm adverse to CGIs, mind. In fact it's the cartoons that bred those doubts in me. The varied 2D, celluloid adventures of Tintin always bugged me, because of that transition from the seemingly simple but incredibly dynamic looks of the books, looking so wrong when brought to animated life. Yet the movie did a great job of shutting up the Tintin geek. It simply looks stunning, and your mind easily jumps back and forth between forgetting these are cartoon characters and appreciating their transition to a 3D environment, respectful of the original designs but literally bringing them to life.

In short, all these elements drew me to the same conclusion, Spielby and co. managed to deal a great adaptation. One that has true respect for the original material, and the great ambition of adding something to it. Yes, not everything of it. "Le Crabe aux Pinces D'or" could have deserved a whole movie. Shortcuts are taken, and as true to their originals as they are, the characters have been redesigned. But in the end you have a movie that can be appreciated both by fans of the comics as well as people who have "just heard about them". It is fun, packed with adventure and action, enjoyable at all ages. And most of all, you can go see it without having to worry about seeing another piece of Hollywood-flavoured perversion, a fast-foodified betrayal. If that's what you like, note, there's been that Smurf thing, recently (another childhood favourite). You know, that other Belgian comics adaptation that took the little blue dudes from their tiny corner of European medieval forest to... Modern New York? But if you have more gourmet tastes, better bet your money on Jackson and Spielberg. Trust this true childhood Tintin fan.

Billions of blue blistering barnacles, Ten thousand thundering typhoons – for a whole generation these were the epitome of cuss words thanks to Captain Haddock. I am one of those in late 20s who grew up reading ( mugging to be precise as Thomson & Thompson would have said) Tintin and almost worship Herge for the genius intelligent stories created in the black and white times of our grandpas. Being an hardcore Tintin loyalist the excitement to see the boy sleuth of screen was certainly brewing high. But the movie left me wanting more. It left a mixed reaction in me and here I come one by one at different levels.

Story Level – Hollywood have adapted many novels for big screen and most of the times it has failed to recreate the finesse of the original work. Spielberg's rendition of Tintin somehow managed a mixed reaction in terms of story. Firstly selecting "The Crab with the Golden Claws" make sense as that shows the boy sleuth meeting the gold hearted Captain Haddock for the first time and in the first encounter Tintin comes face to face with the perennial drinking habit of Captain. "The crab with the golden claws" had enough spice for a full fledged film but may be Spielberg wanted some adventure which prompted him to juggle with "The secret of the unicorn" and "the crab with the golden claws" thus making a concatenation of two stories. Personally I felt that the two stories have been woven wisely with liberty taken in creating an ancestral fight between Captain Francis Haddock and Pirate Red Rackham. Somehow the cocktail was well crafted with the story oscillating between two original books. But the second half was outright outlandish as Spielberg merges his own imagination in creating a full fledged action film which took away the essence of Tintin. The subtlety, intelligence were missing as the director chose to make a 80s Bollywoodish action climax which had no connection to the original one. Moreover the movie ended in the way the comic book "Red Rackham's Treasure" ends yet Spielberg hinted a sequel which is related to Red Rackham's treasure. That shows the sequel will be a total new story by Spielberg (or Peter Jackson) with touches of original. It will be strictly for those who have no idea of what actual Tintin is all about. I mean Spilberg could have named it anything Tom Dick and Harry if not Tintin specially for the second half.

Character Level – Spielberg is almost perfect in designing the characters. The look and the way the screen Tintin reacts brings in nostalgia of childhood days when we imagined (and discussed amongst friends) how Tintin would have behaved if made on screen. The attire to expression was all nicely done. Same goes for Snowy, the cute loyal dog of Tintin who can fight with the goons to save his beloved master. In fact children will fall in love with Snowy after watching this film. In one of the scene when Tintin gets kidnapped Snowy follows the car of the goons to the ship were Tintin was deported. The scene indeed brings out the pathos and concern inside Snowy for his master. Coming to Captain Haddock the characterization isn't as perfect as the comic book. The laziness and craziness in the first half were apt but then Captain fighting in the second half is too hard to digest. The detective duo Thompson and Thomson is appropriate and so is famous nightingale singer Bianca Castaphiore. But Spielberg should have included the verbal fights between Castaphiore and Haddock though he hinted Haddock and Snowy's disgust for Castaphiore's opera. Coming to the villains I am not convinced of Sachcharin as the main villain. The original had Bird Brothers as the villain duo which was more convincing than the screen one. In fact if they wanted to include a dreaded notorious villain then Rastapopulous (the evergreen big nosed enemy of Tintin) would have been the right choice. Even malicious Captain Allan has been relegated to side kick of Sachcharin. Captain Francis Haddock and Red Rackham's characters were true to the original book and it worked well.

Technical Level :- Frankly speaking the 3D effects were disappointing though the animation was top notch. The shadows and the structures created the by gone era with utmost precision. The fight sequence between Captain Francis Haddock and Red Rackham was one of the best sequences in the film. With brilliant camera-work and fine editing the scenes looked captivating on screen. Thought the fight sequences in the climax were loud for Tintin purist but at technical level those are a treat to watch and would be lapped by those who don't have a clue of "actual" Tintin. Dialogues were plain pedestrian and thanks to morality lectures by Captain it becomes ridiculous as a Tintin loyalist to sit through in the second half. As a director Spielberg has lost his midas touch long back which is echoed by this film again.

As a whole Adventure of Tintin started of brilliantly but lost its true sense with faulty narrative towards later half. Tintin loyalists would feel cheated but then they would still watch it for Nostalgia. Non-Tintin fans would lap it for the action. But believe me the Belgian reporter who resides in the heart of millions deserve a better on-screen representation thus doing justice to original masterpiece created by genius Herge. Whatever may be the fate of Spielberg's Tintin please go and read the original comic series. Each is brilliant in it's own way..On-screen or off-screen Tintin and Snowy rocks!! Tintin the film 6/10..Tintin the comic book 11/10