The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn Review

Rating: 5/10 (27 October 2011)

After hyping myself up for The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn last night I went into the film with high hopes, as I enjoyed the old cartoon series. I won't say I was disappointed but it didn't meet my expectations.
The most disappointing part for me was the soundtrack. Whenever the tempo began to increase, it would then just drop never quite achieving an emotional response from me. When the rest of the film resembles classics like the Indiana Jones trilogy, it is understandable why the audio track let me down.
The plot was very similar to the cartoon episodes, The Crab with the Golden Claws and The Secret of the Unicorn, which the film was based on. For obvious reasons these episodes had to be combined so for the film to flow properly. As is any movie based on a TV show, comic or book; there are also many scenes that have been cut and plenty of new scenes and stories added for the plot to make a little more sense. But like I said, a large number of movie adaptations do this and so I won't dwell on the altered plot too long.
Soundtrack, and plot, aside this film was still enjoyable to watch; perhaps even more so I you're a child watching for the very first time. The aspect of the film that made it so enjoyable was not the plot, soundtrack or even visuals, which were as fantastic as expected thanks to the technology of motion capture. But the characters themselves are what made this film. Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis) was fantastic, we saw him angry, loyal, worried and most importantly drunk. They stuck very close to his character from the cartoons, and comics, as you'd hope Spielberg would. Jamie Bell, or Billy Elliot as may of us know him, gave us the character of Tintin. Unfortunately Tintin was a little emotionless throughout the film and the voice acting wasn't perfect, but even this is easily forgotten when Inspector Thompson (Simon Pegg) and Inspector Thomson (Nick Frost) are on the screen. These two characters are as precise to the comics and cartoons as they could be. When they are on screen the audience cannot help but have a grin on their face and laugh at the simplest of slapstick comedy. But to say that they are the highlight of the film puts Daniel Craig to shame. As Daniel Craig is well known for Bond I, and others, often criticise his acting ability. But when he provides such a slimy villain as Sakharine I am forced but to give him credit for his acting. Absolutely nothing about this character resembles Craig in anyway; be it look, motion or sound. Craig has done an improbable job providing The Adventures of Tintin with a dastardly villain.
Finally I have to write a brief note about the look of the film. Now it doesn't look like the Tintin comics or cartoon (i.e. Hand-drawn) but I had never expected it to in this day and age. The characters all look like the cartoon version of themselves but 3D computer models instead. Thompson and Thomson have to be once again referenced as they look as similar to their cartoon counterparts as they possibly could do, whereas Tintin seems a little too lifelike in this world of big nosed, squinty eyed characters. The motion capture animation makes the film very lifelike and is likely to be the future for all forms of animation eventually.
To summarise this film, although it doesn't meet all expectations, it is still very much a Tintin movie. We get the enjoyable relationship of the two protagonists (and snowy), as well as the slapstick, comedic breaks of Thompson and Thomson, and the villainous Sakharine. The film feels like a children's Indiana Jones movie, as one would expect and it is only let down by an unfulfilling soundtrack and a slightly predictable plot. All in all The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn is well worth a watch, if not just for the nostalgia.
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