THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN (USA/NZ 2011) ****
Directed by Steven Spielberg

Performance capture, the technique of more realistically bringing to life comic book animation, popularized by Robert Zemeckis in POLAR EXPRESS gets the high end treatment by Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson in their 3D collaboration THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN, the biggest holiday movie opening around the world.

As most audiences are already aware or (most) grown up reading them (myself included), TINTIN (pronounced as ‘Ten Ten’ en francais) is a series of comic books created by Herge originally in French and translated to hundreds of languages.  There are 23 of these books in total and the Spielberg film, though less than 2 hours in length combines three of these, The Crab with the Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackman’s Treasure.

Though animated, Tintin’s adventures take the audience to the high seas and the blue skies from the dry African desert to Tintin’s colourful hometown.  The film begins with a parody of Tintin getting his caricature drawn in the busy local market place.  As it turns out, the sketch drawn is an exact replica of the Herge cartoon drawing of Tintin.  Tintin ventures out to buy a model three-mast sailing ship, a replica of the Unicorn but is accosted by a dodgy Ivan Sakharine (Daniel Craig) who has more up his sleeve than what appears.  Sakharine kidnaps Tintin and imprisons him on the SS Karaboudjan where he meets an always drunken Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis).  They seek out the three scrolls that were hidden in three similar ship models in order to hunt down a hidden treasure.

The story allows for lots of chases and swashbuckling type fights.  In fact the film is like an entire chase from start to end.  The performance capture works well and the characters are both animated and believable.  The only truly full animated character is Tintin’s dog snowy, who surprisingly steals the show in the film, as in the comic books.  The film works for both adults and children.  TinTin, though the character looks like a young teen, carries and fires weapons during the adventures.

For Tintin Lovers, the film derives much pleasure.  The spirit, humour, sense of adventure and mystery of the adventure comic books are more than effectively captured on celluloid.  The animation is both animated and spirited, the best sequence being the chase scene for the scrolls on the 3-wheeled motorbike.  All the characters are performed by non-American actors to keep Tintin’s European flavour.

But most of all, all the lovable characters are present from Snowy the Scottish terrier to the detective inspectors, Thompson (Simon Pegg) and Thomson (Nick Frost), with no ‘p’.

But for all the success of the splendid animation by Spielberg and crew, one does feel at the end of the film that there is something missing in the film – something that prevents this excellent film form being great.  Perhaps part of the flaw lies in the comic book’s late creator Georges Herge.  Tintin himself was a mystery, with no background.  Nothing is told of his parents or upbringing.  The film likewise lacks the human element and emotion that affects audiences.  Spielberg could have substituted the missing elements with his brand of magic, the sort felt with the flying bicycles in E.T. or the looks of awe on the children’s faces during the filming in SUPER 8. 

Still the film ends, understandably with a sequel hinted at.  As the film goes, THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN is still entertaining and enjoyable enough to warrant its well deserved sequel.