Billions of blue blistering barnacles! Tintin and Haddock make a spectacular debut!

Rating: 8/10 (13 November 2011)

I still clearly remember the first time I was introduced to Tintin's world. It was the winter of 1997 and I was just an 8-year-old kid who had come home from the hospital after a freak accident. I was supposed to stay in bed for a month. The next day after coming home from work, my mom brought me "The Black Island". I instantly fell in love with the artwork, the soulful story, the endearing nuanced characters and exciting adventures of Tintin. I quite admired Tintin and during the course of the month I devoured all the books in the series. I kept re-reading them till I was 14 or thereabouts and every time I delved into the world of Tintin, it was like an epic adventure. Frankly it didn't matter that I knew what the story was or how it ended. That was the power of Herge's masterful storytelling. Subsequently, I also loved the 1991 TV series which was extremely faithful to the narrative of the books. So, as you can well imagine, I was very excited when I heard that one of the best and one of my most favorite directors, Spielberg was directing its big screen adaptation.
Herge was a fan of Spielberg's early works and had written in a note that - "If anyone can bring Tintin successfully to the screen, it is this young American film director, Steven Spielberg". Almost three decades after Herge's death, his wish has finally been fulfilled. "The Adventures of Tintin", the first big screen adaptation of the world-renowned and beloved classic comic books of the same name has been released all over the world. The animated world of Tintin is amazing to look at; every little scene has been done in great detail and care. This isn't Pixar CG animation, nor Disney's hand-drawn animation. Herge's world is created wonderfully using WETA digital by motion capture technology. The sense of wonder never ceases to exist in this world and the human emotions on the animated characters have never been richer. We can sense Spielberg's love and admiration for the original source material through the almost noir atmosphere of the film and the effort put into the characters to make them as interesting as they are in the books.
PLOT: Our young, well-known reporter Tintin buys a regal model of a three-masted sailing ship, 17th century "The Unicorn", for a good price. But he is then immediately accosted by the sinister Ivanovitch Sakharine and the mysterious figure of Barnaby, who both try to buy the model from Tintin, without success. Tintin does his research on the ship and discovers that Sir Francis Haddock was the sole survivor and captain of the ill-fated ship. Sir Francis' last words were that only a true Haddock would figure out what happened on that last voyage of The Unicorn. He returns home to find his model of the Unicorn stolen. When he breaks into Sakharine's mansion, he uncovers the truth about the existence of other Unicorn models. Along his journey to uncover the truth, he is kidnapped by smugglers. While trying to escape, he teams up with the drunkard, Captain Haddock of the Karabudjan and thus begins the epic adventure of Tintin.
The movie is a combination of three books - "The Crab with the Golden Claws", "The Secret of the Unicorn", "Red Rackham's Treasure". The desert scene is taken from "The Land of Black Gold". While the narrative of the stories remain somewhat the same, the creative liberties taken somehow takes away the essence of what makes the character of Tintin - "TINTIN". I didn't admire him, like I admire the comic character. Due the fact that this movie is being released in 2011 and aimed for a completely new generation of kids and adults who may have never even touched one of Herge's masterpieces, the writers have gone for the quick paced roller-coaster ride form of storytelling. But Spielberg knows that at the center of every great movie, the hearts of the audience must empathize with the characters. He makes one of the most memorable, lovable, animated characters in history with Captain Haddock. Haddock shines over Tintin and it is to be expected since all the three books which were adapted were telling the story of Haddock's ancestors and his origins. While I did enjoy the movie, it was very jarring to see Tintin chasing after the falcon in such an unrealistic way. Herge's Tintin, while being intelligent, courageous and caring, never would have done what Spielberg's Tintin did in that particular sequence. I am not being a purist and blasting it apart. On the contrary, I got over it soon enough and even enjoyed it. Also, its quite refreshing to see that even though it is PG movie, it still showed drunkards, murders and Haddock's swearing. Interpol agents Thompson and Thomson have a small part in the movie and they are hilarious. I was glad they didn't overuse the incompetent, blundering idiots. That made them all the more likable.
The movie ended with the possibility of a sequel. I hear Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings) will be bringing "Tintin and Prisoners of the Sun" to the big-screen next. I hope to see many more Tintin movies if it has its heart in the right place like this one did. Die-hard fans of Tintin may not find the movie to be as emotionally engaging as the books, but its an excellent endeavour nonetheless. This is the one of best action-adventure movies of the year. Master filmmaker Spielberg's first foray into into the world of animation and motion capture, "The Adventures of Tintin" is a spectacle to behold and cherish. It may even be nominated for Best Animated Picture next year. Take your kids, friends, family and have a jolly good time at the movies.
8/10