Not Your Traditional Reporter

Movie Review:
The Adventures of Tintin

2011 / 1 hr., 47 min. / PG

Director: Steven Spielberg

Until 2011, I had never heard of Tintin. Even now I know very little except that my son discovered some Tintin books at the library that summer, that he loves reading them, and that this literary find randomly coincided with the news that a film version was on its way. Naturally, a father-and-son outing to the cinema was in order.

Tintin is the creation of French author Herge from back in the 1940's. An intrepid reporter with a shock of red hair, Tintin never has an easy assignment; like the Hardy Boys or Hercule Poirot, Tintin manages to end up in life-threatening adventures just by existing, it seems. The episodic series of books, packed full of mystery and action, therefore lent themselves quite well to another of Steven Spielberg’s grand-scale tributes to the Saturday matinee serials of yesteryear, plainly titled The Adventures of Tintin.

My son informs me that this one is based entirely on the book The Secret of the Unicorn, in which Tintin’s innocent purchase of a miniature sailing ship lands him in the middle of dark and sinister intrigue. Dark and sinister people desperately want a piece of parchment tucked in the model’s tiny mast, and Tintin is naturally not content with letting them have the ship and parchment – He did, after all, pay an entire British pound for it, at the 1940's value. Instead, he pursues the dark and sinister forces, ending up on a steamer bound for some place in the Middle East I have never heard of and cannot now recall.

Along the way, Tintin meets and rescues Captain Haddock, a drunken sod who has a penchant for alliterative expletives like “Blue blistering barnacles!” Together they delve into the mystery of why anyone would care about a model sailing ship and a cryptic scribble on a piece of parchment. Delving, in this case, involves getting lost on the open seas in a rowboat, flying a sea plane into a violent thunderstorm, dying of thirst in the desert, attending an opera, and driving through Arabian city streets on a motorcycle-and-sidecar in pursuit of a bird of prey. In that order.

In directing The Adventures of Tintin, Steven Spielberg returns to a bygone era where kids could run down to the local theater every Saturday and watch their favorite heroes take off on daring new escapades for a quarter. Each film spun off of the one from the week before, creating an episodic series (hence “serials”) of tales. The hero engaged in chases, fights, and high-stakes adventure in pursuit of dark and sinister villains, many of which escaped to antagonize the hero again next week. Spielberg first tipped his hat to this “golly-gee whiz-bang” age with Raiders of the Lost Ark and the ensuing episodes of Indiana Jones’ adventures, and I can only imagine that he fondly remembers being one of those kids plunking down a quarter, because he pulls it off again here quite well. Tintin may or may not become as iconic to American audiences as Indiana Jones, but the homage to Saturday matinees is unmistakable.

Unfortunately for my personal taste, Spielberg chose to present the film as computer animation instead of live action. I suppose the argument could be made that animation is in keeping with the spirit of the books, since they are in graphic form, but my inclination is toward real people and sets, especially for fantasies and adventures. The film employs the motion-capture method of animating, in which real actors perform each shot of the movie wearing special suits that allow a computer to record their movements. From there, computer artists create the characters and locations. While it is probably cost-effective for an adventure like this, saving money on everything from costumes to pyrotechnics, it simply does not draw me in. It is too animated to be real – individual frames do look deceptively photographic, but to this day computer-generated living beings still do not move like flesh-and-blood people on physical sets – and too real to be enjoyed as an animated film. I spent the entire screening being aware of the film, and that is precisely what a film-maker should avoid. When technique distracts from the story, the film is less than perfect.

This is also true with the excessive camera movement. Spielberg is occasionally guilty of succumbing to the “Because We Can” syndrome – don’t get me started on one particularly egotistical shot in his War of the Worlds – and The Adventures of Tintin is no exception. The hypothetical camera feels constantly on the go, swooping in and around and over and through, simply because it can. Throw in some ineffectively simulated “hand-held” motion, and I’m just about ready to vocalize my discontent right there in the theater.

But within the bounds of Spielberg’s personal choice of storytelling medium, I would have to say it was a very enjoyable experience. Spielberg’s senses of wonder, awe, mystery, suspense, and adventure remain keen – and he even gets to throw in his trademark beams of light shining in dark, dusty rooms. On only a couple of occasions does he slip and allow truly cartoonish moments of silliness to interfere; but what can you expect when the hero’s sidekick is a dog with enough cognitive and communicative prowess to make Lassie green with envy?

Tintin is “played” by Jamie Bell (Nicholas Nickleby), assisted by Andy Serkis, renowned for his very physical performances for other motion-capture roles like Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Daniel Craig of recent James Bond fame. It is hard to critique anyone’s acting in a film like this, since their performances undergo computer manipulation; but the voice talents are decidedly appropriate, at least.

I cannot speak for how well the screenplay conveys the spirit of Herge’s story, but writers Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright, and Joe Cornish adhere closely enough that my son recognized which book he was seeing; and he sported a big grin on several occasions, particularly when Captain Haddock uttered another of his traditional epithets. He also instantly recognized the bumbling twin police detectives Thompson and Thomson, helpfully informing me of who they were. So as far as an adaptation goes, I guess they did a good job. As a script on its own terms, it is generally clever and consistent.

And I must comment with delight that John Williams is back. I haven’t heard anything truly interesting from him since his scoring for the Harry Potter series, and his recent work for Spielberg’s War Horse was pleasant but unmemorable. The rousing fun of Tintin’s quest allows Williams to rev up an energetic orchestra and really belt it out once again. There’s nothing specific to hum on your way out of the theater, like “The Raiders March”, but the music is in that same boisterous vein.

All told, I enjoyed my time with my son, and he enjoyed his time with Tintin. A few moments were spent cowering behind the row of seats in front of us – my son, not me – during some fairly intense chases and fights. But in general, for a harmless thrill ride through a good old mystery adventure, Tintin awaits you.

My Score: 8