The Adventures of Tintin is an enjoyable well done adaptation of the books by Herge. For somebody that knows nothing about Tintin, this is an Indiana Jones-esque story that is fun and action packed. For the Tintin aficionado, this is an amalgamation of three books with some parts that are needlessly extended.
March 13, 2012 Update: Blu-Ray + DVD + Digital Copy arrived today. The Digital copy is two different things, a real live downloadable copy through iTunes and the horrible streaming Ultraviolet copy. The "deluxe" Blu-Ray version includes an access code for both types of on computer viewing. The Blu-Ray disc is very nice. I saw the original movie in 3D at the theater. I don't miss the 3D effect, and frankly the sound was better at home on my home theater system. This is a disc well worth buying.
The opening credits are almost worth the price of admission. The roughly 3 minutes of credits go through almost all the stories. The graphics are very similar to the books.
Tintin, a journalist, buys a model ship at a flea market. It turns out a lot of other people want that ship. There is a bit of mystery, a bit of action, and treasure hunt in the story. The movie is based mostly on the Unicorn series (The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham's Treasure) and The Crab with the Golden Claws. I love the homage to Herge at the beginning of the film, he is the artist doing Tintin's portrait at the flea market.
My criticism of the film is the embellishment of a number of scenes. I think the original story left the right kind of gaps in the story to keep me thinking. The film tended to fill in those gaps and lead me too much down the primrose path; I didn't have to think very much with this film. The real pleasure of Tintin is that a person has to think about these stories. The other piece I didn't care for was bringing in Castefiore the opera singer. She really doesn't belong in this story, but Spielberg and Jackson seem to have felt she was a plausible addition.
This was filmed in motion capture animation. The film looked really good. That technique has a tendency to look almost too realistic and creepy, not in this film. There was just enough cartoon character to the film, that I never thought this was trying to imitate real life. I saw this in 3D, and can't say it was necessary - I think the film will work just fine in 2D.
I really liked the cast. The voices were excellent choices; Jamie Bell is simply fantastic as Tintin. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (
Shaun of the Dead, and
Hot Fuzz (Widescreen Edition)) are so perfect as Thompson and Thompson.
I am a Tintin fan. We have the full DVD set of all the cartoons (these were only available in Canada for a long time and ran on Nickelodeon back in 1991). We also own many of the books. I even have some original antique paper comic books from the early days. I am not a true aficionado of the series, but have loved the original series in French and English.
The film is rated PG. Compared to television cartoons, just about any age child could watch this. There's animated violence. The story is a little bit complex, but most children will catch on easily.
Almost two years ago I heard that The Adventures of Tintin was in development. I hoped that it would eventually see the light of day in a theater. I am so happy this film was made. It is a wonderful film of my favorite comic book series. This is by far the best filming that has ever been done. The DVD cartoons are very literal translations of the books, with exactly the same graphics and almost the same dialog. The two French live action movies are both pretty campy and not exactly the best films in the world. They stick to the book story lines pretty literally. They are only available in French with no subtitles at all (
Tintin: Le Mystere de la Toison D'or / Les Oranges Bleues (French Version)).
The Adventures of Tintin is a wonderful film. I enjoyed this film very much.
By the way, Marlinspike is a real chateau in France, it is Château de Cheverny. The chateau is larger than in the cartoon or books - but it is the model Herge used to draw Marlinspike Hall. The grounds look exactly like the cartoon (it's pretty darn amazing to walk up to this Chateau and see exactly what Herge used as his model).
The original cartoons are available on DVD:
The DVD Box set:
The Adventures of Tintin, Vols. 1-5The Adventures of Tintin, Vols. 6-10The 2011 film:
The Adventures of TintinThe new DVD releases:
The Adventures Of Tintin: Season OneThe Adventures Of Tintin: Season TwoThe Unicorn 2 part cartoon is also available on Amazon Instant Video:
The Secret Of The Unicorn, Part 1The Secret Of The Unicorn, Part 2Red Rackham's Treasure and The Crab With The Golden Claws are available on Amazon Instant Video. I've included links to those two books in the comments section below.