Columbia Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Amblin Entertainment,
Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig, Nick Frost, Simon Pegg, Toby Jones, Mackenzie Crook, Daniel Mays, Gad Elmaleh, Joe Starr, Kim Stengel, Sonja Fortag, Tony Curran, Jamie Bell
Tintin (Jamie Bell) is a reporter who along with Snowy purchases a replica of the ship “The Unicorn” at a market stall, but is surprised that Mr. Sakharine (Daniel Craig) wants to buy it really bad. Tintin knows that there’s a mystery there somehow. It turns out there were three ships made by Sr Francis Haddock (Andy Serkis) for his 3 sons, and they hold the key to treasure beyond measure. Tintin sets out with Captain Haddock to find the 3rd ship while protecting the 2nd, to try to solve the mystery of the hidden treasure.
This all CGI film uses the same motion capture technology used in “Disney’s A Christmas Carol”, and others like “The Polar Express”. As a result, it gives you the creepy feeling that something is a bit too real to be unreal. I find it just a bit disconcerting seeing that. Video games are getting like that too, now, where it’s a little too accurate in it’s depiction of cartoon people. But this is a joyful little adventure. The story is decent, and reminds me of some of the classic cartoons of my childhood. There is a decent mystery at the root of it, and Tintin and his annoying little dog Snowy will get to the bottom of it. But Tintin is an everyman kind of guy, and not the absurd genius who can look at a smudge and tell you the history of the world from it. He works out the problems just like we do. I am sorry that this film did not pick up so much traction in the U.S. market, as it is a really good film, but it did quite well internationally where the people are more familiar with the comic version of the story. I think they must have done a good job of capturing the spirit of the comic in this tale.
I found myself interested in the story, which is good. Sometimes in this kind of kids tale, you lose interest after a while, but that did not happen here. It’s a good enough story for grown-ups too to enjoy. I found myself entertained throughout the film. All in all they did a very good job, and with the work they put into it (with Spielberg at the helm) I gather it will get them back a decent return on their investment. I suspectd this to be a pretty decent DVD market film as well, and it should be on your watch list if you haven’t seen it. I enjoyed it, and am happy to recommend this to lovers of animated adventure.
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
