As you should know, “Tintin” is based on the classic series of comic books - specifically “The Crab with the Golden Claws,” “The Secret of the Unicorn” and “Red Rackham’s Treasure” - by the Belgian artist known as Hergé. I myself am vaguely familiar with the books; I remember reading a couple of them as a child and enjoying them. As far as I can tell, writers Edgar Wright ("Shaun of the Dead"), Joe Cornish ("Attack the Block") and Steven Moffat ("Doctor Who") do a more than fine job in representing the beloved characters and the adventurous tone set by Hergé.
The film leaps right into the adventure that intrepid, flame-haired boy reporter Tintin (voiced by Jamie Bell, “Billy Elliot”) undergoes with his trusty dog Snowy. The adventure begins with Tintin’s purchase of a model of a legendary ship known as the Unicorn. Upon his purchase, he is almost immediately confronted by two men, one after the other, who wish to buy the model from him. They seem desperate to have it in their possession, though Tintin stubbornly refuses. He wonders: what’s so important about a model ship he just bought for a quid? He must find out!
So, Tintin investigates and soon finds himself locked inside a cage, aboard a freighter, against his will. He discovers that the moustachioed Ivanovich Sakharine (Daniel Craig, “Casino Royale”) is behind his kidnapping; Sakharine reveals that he wants a scroll that Tintin discovered within the model ship, but Tintin doesn‘t have it on him. While aboard the freighter, Tintin meets Captain Archibald Haddock (Andy Serkis, “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”), a bearded drunkard with an obsessive liking for the taste of whisky. They quickly form a friendship. And together, the unlikely duo bravely set out to stop Sakharine’s villainous schemes and solve the mystery they’re both now heavily involved in.
“Tintin” is the very definition of a no-holds-barred, action-packed extravaganza; it’s a spectacle and is not ashamed to say so. One could call it pure entertainment; it exists with the sole intention to provide a non-stop barrage of blockbuster thrills, but is smart about this and never patronises its audience. It’s a film that very rarely stops, and when it does it does not last long.
Its structure essentially takes the form of action set-piece after action set-piece, which may sound tiring, but the experience is exhilarating. The action is fast, intricate, thrilling and creative, with a dash of slapstick humour thrown into the mix. It’s all incredibly fun, as all swashbuckling shenanigans should be; it's Spielberg back in old-school "Indiana Jones" mode, which can only be a good thing.
There are two action sequences that stand out from the rest. The first is an epic, swooping, beautifully shot flashback to Haddock’s pirate ancestor, Sir Francis Haddock (also played by Serkis), as he protects his ship from villainous invaders. This imaginatively intercuts with Captain Haddock’s lively and enthusiastic description of the scene. The second is a chase sequence that takes us through the streets of exotic Bagghar. Tintin and Haddock are in hot pursuit of Sakharine, who has just obtained the three scrolls that will lead him to a heap of treasure. The scene, lasting sometime around three minutes, is unadulterated over-the-top action that is, impressively, done without a single cut from start to finish; I know it’s animated, but still, it’s impressive.
The film has latched onto the recent trend of performance capture; this, in case you don’t know, is when the facial and bodily movements of one or more CGI characters within a film are based directly on the facial and bodily movements of a real-life human being. The trend is usually lampooned for creating animated characters who are afflicted with zombie eyes and skin that looks like it is made of wax; “Tintin,” however, does not suffer from this.
You see, “Tintin” actually pushes this technology into truly impressive territory and has me absolutely convinced the medium really could go places. Unlike other performance capture efforts such as the Robert Zemeckis-produced “Mars Needs Moms,” Robert Zemeckis' “The Polar Express” and Robert Zemeckis’ “A Christmas Carol” (you noticing a pattern here?), the medium here is not a friggin’ eyesore, instead creating something that is ridiculously gorgeous and visually pleasing. Along with August’s “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” the film is the best argument for performance capture I’ve seen since James Cameron’s “Avatar.”
The film is fully animated, so every movement of every single character has been physically carried out by the voice cast. The movements of the characters are smooth, fluid and realistic; their facial expressions are also fully expressive, as opposed to stiff and scary (as they were for the CGI-faced Jeff Bridges in “TRON: Legacy”). Altogether, the character animation is utterly magnificent and is some of the best I’ve seen in a feature film; indeed, there were several moments where I genuinely believed I was watching real-life human beings.
Hergé famously stated that Steven Spielberg was the only director capable of bringing Tintin to the big-screen; turns out he just may have been right. Wonderfully animated, frequently hilarious and boundlessly stimulating, “The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn” is an invigorating piece of action-packed entertainment that will excite and beguile audiences of all ages. I hope to see more adventures from quiff-head soon
9/10
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