The Adventures of Tintin (2011)
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Intrepid young reporter, Tintin, and his loyal dog, Snowy, are thrust into a world of high adventure when they discover a ship carrying an explosive secret. As Tintin is drawn into a centuries-old mystery, Ivan Ivanovitch Sakharine suspects him of stealing a priceless treasure. Tintin and Snowy, with the help of salty, cantankerous Captain Haddock and bumbling detectives, Thompson and Thomson, travel half the world, one step ahead of their enemies, as Tintin endeavors to find the Unicorn, a sunken ship that may hold a vast fortune, but also an ancient curse.
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It was widely reported that, after seeing Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Hergé (who died in 1983) said that Spielberg was the only filmmaker who could do Tintin justice on screen (there had been several attempts over the years to cinematize Tintin’s adventures, including cell animation, stop-motion animation, and even live action).
The details are standard Saturday matinee fodder; you can see why "Raiders of the Lost Ark" was compared to Tintin when it came out.
No longer constrained by little things like physics when placing his camera, Spielberg is able to craft some of the most rollicking, slam-bam action sequences of his career, harkening back to his earlier, care-free efforts like "Raiders of the Lost Ark."
The end result is something like “The Da Vinci Code” meets “Raiders of the Lost Ark” meets the Hardy Boys.
Back when he was making "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," the fourth installment of the "Raiders of the Lost Ark" series, director Steven Spielberg faced something of a daunting task.
But Spielberg is also clearly at play, diving into Tintin's exploring, energetic spirit and reconnecting with the sly filmmaker we met in Jaws.
He even allows a couple of winking self-referential moments, like when Tintin swims in the ocean, and his red cowlick is visible floating across the surface like the shark’s fin in “Jaws.”
Based on 1943’s The Secret of the Unicorn and the follow-up, Red Rackman’s Treasure and utilizing the latest in cutting edge motion capture technology, the man responsible for such seminal popcorn blockbusters as Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T.
Better yet, Spielberg concocts a few wonderful grace notes, as when Tintin's forelock cuts the waves like a shark's fin (hello, "Jaws"!), or when Tintin and Haddock experience a glittering rainfall of gold pieces.
Among the set pieces, a giddy seaplane chase (leavened with a Jaws gag and centered on the Captain's belching of rubbing alcohol) and a motorcycle pursuit that catapults Tintin over Moroccan roofs are as accomplished as any of Spielberg's Indiana Jones climaxes.
For all its breathless globetrotting action-adventure, the Spielberg movie that "Tintin" suggests is not "Raiders" but "1941," the 1979 World War II comedy that collapsed beneath its own bloat.
And yet, virtually every scene in the film has some elaborate structure to it--even the sight of Snowy chasing an errant cat around a room seems to cause more destruction than the climax of "1941"--and it all just grows kind of boring after a while.
Intrigue, chases, fights, killings, explosions, and flying bullets are the order of the day, with a musical track as always by John Williams, making the whole thing sound more than ever like a cross between "Indiana Jones" and "1941."
The story combines elements from three of Hergé’s 23 Tintin adventures: The Crab With the Golden Claws (1941), The Secret of the Unicorn (1943), and Red Rackham’s Treasure (1944).
(A pirate-ship duel between Haddock's and Sakharine's ancestors, with both combatants stamping out an explosives fuse multiple times, has the flavor of the Jones cliffhangers and the somewhat unfairly reviled 1941.)
However I found the film just okay, and from a director like Spielberg that’s almost worse than being a total 1941.
"Tintin" is the obvious popcorn movie of the two, the crowd-pleaser: "Jurassic Park" to the other's prestige-hungry "Schindler's List."
The Extraterrestrial and Jurassic Park has teamed up with producer Peter Jackson to try and make this basic boys adventure tale accessible to those who otherwise may not care about the character and his legions of devotees.
Even though Spielberg’s used plenty of computer generated effects in his movies (most obviously the dinosaurs in “Jurassic Park”), this is his first film rendered entirely in a computer.
Spielberg goes back to his roots and with The Adventures of Tintin gives you the kind of fun found in Raiders and Jurassic Park.
The preeminent director of E.T. and Jurassic Park does not hold back on the complex mystery, mature themes, violence, or death defying fetes.
After a charming opening credit sequence (albeit reminiscent of “Catch Me If You Can”), things begin to fade.
If anything, director Steven Spielberg brings an oddly subdued feel to the proceedings, beginning with a cool, jazzy opening credits sequence done in the style of Saul Bass (come to think of it, it's not unlike 2002's " Catch Me If You Can ") and then taking its time as the plot gradually unfolds and thickens.
After an animated credit sequence with nods to both Saul Bass and Spielberg’s own Catch Me If You Can, we first meet Tintin (Jamie Bell) while he’s getting his portrait sketched by a Herge look-alike in an outdoor flea market.
Tintin also avoids the “uncanny valley” in that the characters, while photorealistic down to their skin pores and nose hairs, are given just enough cartoonish dimensions (Tintin’s cowlick, Captain Haddock’s bulbous nose) to escape the waxen creepiness of the zombie children in The Polar Express (2004).
Using performance-capture animation that could be confused for live-action on multiple occasions, director Steven Spielberg (2008's " Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ") ensures that his characters haven't any of the dead-eyed qualities that some viewers once accused 2004's " The Polar Express " of.
The movie makes use of the motion-capture animation technique pioneered by director Robert Zemeckis in films like "The Polar Express."
Spielberg employs 3-D motion capture technology similar to what his contemporary, Robert Zemeckis, has used in his last three films (with results varying from the wonderful “The Polar Express” to the woeful “A Christmas Carol”).
Instead, it utilizes the motion capture process that Robert Zemeckis first popularized with "The Polar Express."
The usual effect of this -- as seen in Robert Zemeckis' last three films The Polar Express (2004), Beowulf (2007), and A Christmas Carol (2009) -- is realistically creepy characters with soulless, dead eyes.
As previously practiced most aggressively by Robert Zemeckis, in such films as "The Polar Express," "Beowulf" and the recent flop "Mars Needs Moms," "performance capture" or "motion capture" is an expensive and technically sophisticated process in which the movements and facial expressions of actors in Lycra suits covered in reflective markers are photographed and digitally translated into animation.
It's thorough and particularized without looking creepy the way Robert Zemeckis's CGI rotoscoping did ("Polar Express," "Beowulf").
Given Tintin’s origins in comic books, the CGI-animation approach is arguably justified, unlike several of Zemeckis’s performance capture films like Beowulf (2007), which needlessly replaced human actors with similar-looking digital avatars.
Who can say, but at least the result is less disconcerting than the sight of an ultra-buff living painting with Ray Winstone 's face in that " Beowulf " thing.
In the past, this technique, as demonstrated in movies like Robert Zemeckis ’s “The Polar Express” and “ Beowulf ,” came across as machine-tooled – soulless.
Part of its success comes from the always-grand vision of Spielberg, who proves that performance-capture animation -- a la "The Polar Express" and "Beowulf" (as opposed to traditional computer-generated animation, a la "Toy Story") -- has come a long way.
I'm not one of those people with a knee-jerk disdain for motion capture (I enjoyed The Polar Express and loved Jim Carrey in A Christmas Carol), but in Tintin, the technique that renders all that movement so flowing and frictionless also makes the characters come off as if their souls were made of sponge.
Spielberg employs 3-D motion capture technology similar to what his contemporary, Robert Zemeckis, has used in his last three films (with results varying from the wonderful “The Polar Express” to the woeful “A Christmas Carol”).
The Zemeckis films: Polar Express, Beowulf and A Christmas Carol failed to create that photo realistic version of humanity, because trying to motion capture and animate real people in that photo realistic way just makes humans look plastic and dead behind the eyes.
From the much-ballyhooed problems of Robert Zemeckis’ earlier attempts (2004′s The Polar Express, 2009′s A Christmas Carol), the methodology has markedly improved.
Following in the footsteps of his former protégé Robert Zemeckis, who hasn’t directed a live actor on film since Tom Hanks talked to a volleyball in Cast Away (2000), Steven Spielberg has ventured into the world of 3D performance capture CGI with The Adventures of Tintin, which is drawn from the much-loved (although mostly outside the United States) comic book series by the Belgian author and illustrator Hergé.
Steven Spielberg has dabbled in animation for years, producing movies like An American Tail and Who Framed Roger Rabbit and TV shows like " Pinky and the Brain " and "Animaniacs."
It's performance-capture filmmaking in 3-D (think "The Polar Express" but with more advanced "Avatar"-like tricks).
James Cameron used it brilliantly in “Avatar” because his characters were supposed to look otherworldly; used on human characters, it’s just creepy.
On the other hand, his ability to deploy cutting-edge technologies--such as 3D and the type of advanced motion-capture animation that brought the likes of "Avatar" to life in this case--in eye-popping ways would presumably attract audiences who were largely unfamiliar with Tintin, especially in the U.S., where the stories have never quite caught on as anything other than as a cult favorite or an occasional Dennis Miller reference.
The process has been used most successfully in what we perhaps incorrectly refer to as live-action films, including "Avatar," Jackson's "King Kong" and the recent "Rise of the Planet of the Apes," in which performance capture's Man of a Thousand LED Faces, Andy Serkis, became such an impressive Caesar the chimpanzee that 20th Century Fox is touting him for a Best Supporting Actor nomination.
This year has been as groundbreaking of a year for 3D as 2009 was when James Cameron shocked the world with “Avatar.”
Motion capture has been used in feature films often, from The Polar Express to Avatar.
The drawings truly come alive during the fantastical action scenes; a couple of swashbuckling sequences outdo all four Pirates of the Caribbean movies and a ‘long-take’ chase through the streets of Morocco combines the best elements of Indiana Jones and Police Story into a truly transcendent, Spielbergian cinematic moment.
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It's Indiana Jones meets "Captain Blood."
The second is to take the story itself — the graphic-novel action of “Tales from the Crypt,” “V for Vendetta” or just about any superhero story — and cast flesh-and-blood actors in the roles.
Many had written it off after Disney parted ways with the medium's biggest champion, Robert Zemeckis, and scrapped his "Yellow Submarine" remake idea.
THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN 3 stars (out of 4) Stars: Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig Rated: PG for action How long: 1 hour 51 minutes Opens: Wednesday Where: Point, Eastgate, Star Cinema, Cinema Cafe For fans of: "Raiders of the Lost Ark," "The Goonies," styling your hair with a big pointy cowlick…
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A lot of the movie's wit comes from the trio of screenwriters who each have remarkable credits to their names-- Steven Moffat (BBC's Sherlock and Doctor Who), Edgar Wright (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Shaun of the Dead) and Joe Cornish (this year's Attack the Block) of story beats, of jokes that work, and even of the myriad side characters who pop in for exactly the right amount of time (Simon Pegg and Nick Frost's Thompson Twins are especially goofy highlights).
Thirty years later Spielberg makes his first foray into animation with a script (Steven Moffat (TV's 'Coupling,' 'Doctor Who') and Edgar Wright ("Shaun of the Dead") & Joe Cornish ("Attack the Block")) based on three of the original stories from the 1940s ('The Crab with the Golden Claws,' 'The Secret of the Unicorn' and 'Red Rackham's Treasure') and 3D motion capture animation from producer Peter Jackson's Weta Digital.
The trio of scriptwriters includes Edgar Wright (“Shaun of the Dead,” “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World”) and Joe Cornish (last year’s sleeper hit, “Attack the Block”) – which makes it that much more disappointing.
Co-writer Edgar “Shaun of the Dead” Wright’s biggest contribution may have been landing his pals Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as the voices of matching INTERPOL inspectors who help Tintin in his quest.
That doesn't matter a jot, though, as Spielberg, working from a crackerjack script courtesy of Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead), Joe Cornish (Attack the Block), and Steven Moffat (Doctor Who), mines several Hergé stories to create a typically complex series of risky, slapsticky adventures for the young – and extremely white-bread – hero.
Extreme Tintin purists might quibble that the screenplay, by all-Brit team Steven Moffat ("Doctor Who"), Edgar Wright ("Shaun of the Dead") and Joe Cornish ("Attack the Block"), doesn't stick to the letter of Herge's original strips.
It is disappointing, though, that the action tends to drown out any contribution beyond mere page-to-screen translation by the film’s robust British screenwriting team, comprised of Steven Moffat, a veteran television writer who has contributed substantially to the BBC’s resurrection of Doctor Who (2005–); Edgar Wright, the sharp-witted writer/director behind Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) and Hot Fuzz (2008); and Joe Cornish, the fast-rising young writer/director whose Spielberg-alluding urban sci-fi-comedy Attack the Block (2011) has been critically praised on both sides of the Atlantic.
The writing is also witty, the screenplay attributed to a trio of British heavyweights, Steven Moffat (“Sherlock”), Edgar Wright (“Hot Fuzz”) and Joe Cornish (“Attack the Block”).
Co-written by Steven Moffat (creator of the British series “Coupling” and lead writer for “Doctor Who”), “Hot Fuzz” director Edgar Wright and “Attack the Block” director Joe Cornish, Tintin offers the persistent presence of mild cleverness (best gag: a sailor who’s a restless sleeper because he lost his eyelids in a card game) without ever being truly funny, especially when repeatedly leaning on Haddock’s drunkenness for jokes.
It’s precisely the old-school exploits of the Jones films that the director and screenwriters Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim vs.
Jamie Bell, who played a young sailor in Jackson’s King Kong , seems a good choice to voice and perform Hergé’s intrepid youthful reporter.
The process has been used most successfully in what we perhaps incorrectly refer to as live-action films, including "Avatar," Jackson's "King Kong" and the recent "Rise of the Planet of the Apes," in which performance capture's Man of a Thousand LED Faces, Andy Serkis, became such an impressive Caesar the chimpanzee that 20th Century Fox is touting him for a Best Supporting Actor nomination.
Jamie Bell is the actor mo-capped for Tintin; Daniel Craig, unrecognizable, voices and "acts" the bad guy; Andy Serkis, the mo-cap king thanks to his Gollum in "The Lord of the Rings" and Kong of "King Kong," among others, hams it up as Haddock.
Serkis (King Kong, The Lord of the Rings) nonetheless manages to turn Haddock into what will surely be the trilogy’s most memorable personage, while Bell (Billy Elliot) makes Tintin about as interesting as he can be, which is to say sometimes less so than his dog.