First off, let me hold my hands up and say that I haven't read any of the Tintin Adventures and I'm sure I'm missing out on a rich, vibrant and exciting series of comic books which have been lovingly read by generations. So it was with this general ignorance of all things Belgian-related that I watched The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (the colon suggesting there are more films to follow). And let's say I was pleasantly surprised.
From the directorial juggernaut that is Steven Spielberg and producer Peter Jackson, The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn follows Tintin and his faithful dog Snowy on their first adventure with Captain Haddock as they track down the lost treasure of Haddock's ancestor. What ensues is your fairly run-of-the-mill adventure with more smashed booze bottles and fights than down at your local Wetherspoons on a Friday night. The most interesting aspect of the film has to be its animation. Using motion capture cameras to film live action and then convert it into digital animation, the film is very striking. The locations are visually stunning (especially during the harbour chase sequence in Bagghar) and the attention to detail breathtaking. The animation is so realistic that I kept having to remind myself that I wasn't watching a live action film. This may sound a bit weird but, genuinely, it looks so real. If you're the type of person with a bit of a hand fetish, go and see this film as the characters' hands really are a thing of beauty (blimey, I never thought I'd say something like that!). Anyway, enough of how good it looks. Trust me, it's amazing. It's just a shame that other aspects of the film don't live up to the visuals.
The plot was...um...okay. Just okay. Nothing special, just...adequate. It took a little while to get going but, once it did, the plot did produce some spectacular set pieces (such as the fantastic fight on the pirate ship) which were made all the better by the fantastic animation. Spielberg's stamp was all over the film, both in terms of style and the slightly nostalgic and warm script which was fairly witty and did raise a few chuckles. Some solid voice acting from Jamie Bell in the title role, along with cinema giants such as Daniel Craig, Toby Jones, Andy Serkis and Simon Pegg, made the film very enjoyable. And yet, I felt that the character of Tintin was a bit of a let down. The character felt a bit flat and, ironically for a film in 3D, slightly two dimensional. There was no emotional depth and no back story to Tintin's character and it felt like he'd lost his personality somewhere between filming and the editing studio. In other words, Tintin's character had as much personality as a school dinner lady with gastroenteritis. Hopefully, however, this will be resolved in the next film which, I have to say, I am already looking forward to. And why am I looking forward to it? Because it's a good, Sunday afternoon film which you can just sit back and enjoy. Not effort required. And I mean this in a good way.
I liked the approach to the action sequences, specifically the fight scenes, where there was no shying away from violence which is often seen in films aimed at a younger audience. I don't mean it was very violent, just that the violence was justified in context and made the situations seem more realistic. In terms of characterisation, children will obviously love Tintin's dog Snowy who, in many ways, had more of a spark behind the eyes than Tintin. Moreover, I felt that the bowler-hatted Inspectors Thompson and Thompson could have made much more of a comedic impact than they did: the potential was there but, ultimately, the two characters served little purpose in the narrative. Despite its flaws, The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn remains a fun and enjoyable film, which provides enough for both children and adults to keep them entertained and demonstrates what good animation can do to a film. However, a word of warning. Don't stare at Tintin's quiff for too long – it gets scarily hypnotic.
P.S. See it in 2D. Much better than 3D. And you'll save some money for the bus home.
Clapperboard Rating: * * *
No comments:
Post a Comment