Beautiful to look at, charming to watch, easy to forget

Rating: 6/10 (14 September 2012)

As his first full animation, Tintin may appear to be something of a new departure for Spielberg, but in every other respect, what we have here is a familiar and vintage caper that demonstrates just how easily the Bergster can knock this stuff off in his sleep these days.
The unavoidable comparison that springs immediately to mind is with his Indiana Jones movies: The period setting (not exactly specified, but easily 30s / 40s in feel) bathed in a nostalgic glow, a globetrotting adventure in search of some lost treasure, voyages by tramp steamer or bi-plane, even a chase through some north-African market streets. Just a quiff instead of a fedora, and the formula is all in place. Now it's fair enough to point out that Raiders and its sequels were hugely inspired by an older generation of serial comic book adventures from the 40s and 50s in which Tintin rightly holds an esteemed place, but seen from a modern filmic perspective, there is a strong sense that we've seen this done before, and in at least some respects, better.
First, the good stuff. Tintin is beautifully animated, in a manner which is rich and detailed, but also retains a touch of period comic-book style which never draws attention but feels just right for this world. There are many stunningly visualised edits between locations, or shifts in time from story to storyteller, that match the very best that Spielberg has ever delivered in his live action movies. There are also several bravura action sequences, all of which are executed with wit and perfect pacing and never feel forced or out of place, and usually come with some charming touches of humour. While some of the broader slapstick moments fall somewhat flat (no pun etc.), just keep watching that dog, often in the corner of the frame away from the main action for some of the most gentle moments of incidental pleasure that the movie has to offer.
However, for me, there's no getting away from the most glaring problem with Tintin, and that's Tintin, the personality vacuum at the centre of the whole enterprise. Utterly devoid of any notable or involving character traits, he functions purely as a nominal protagonist around whom a plot can revolve, but never to whom our empathy may adhere. And speaking of plot, therein lies the secondary failing of Tintin (which sounds like a title for a sequel if ever I heard one). Many adventure stories may rely heavily on a MacGuffin to drive them along, but in the best examples (and again, there's no getting away from the Dr. Jones comparisons here, and all of them unfavourable to the cherub-faced reporter), this is merely a plot device to lead our hero to some greater and more profound end (reconciliation, enlightenment, the saving of a life, or the world, or a little piece of home), but in Tintin the MacGuffin is the whole plot, and so, having been kept pleasantly charmed, if not totally thrilled along the way, I arrived rather unexpectedly at the end, with things much as they were at the beginning.