Surprisingly Great!!

Rating: 8/10 (28 October 2011)

I think most of the people seemed to await the Tintin movie with mixed feelings since except of the (horrible) french movies from 1964 and the really great cartoons (1991-1992) nobody really dared to touch the great work of Herge. I as well had mixed feelings when I went to watch it since I grew up reading the comic books and watching the cartoons, which in my view still are unmatched since they were created with Herge himself included in the process of drawing them. Anyways, it was exciting to hear that Steven Spielberg ( whom Herge by the way called the only one being able to make a movie out of his work ) and Peter Jackson were working together making a movie out of a beloved childhood memory. Many people were put off by the fact by the look of Tintin or the fact that they used different comic books and made a new story out of it, which is understandable. But once you have seen the movie it does not matter anymore because the spirit and the love, which Herge put in his characters can be felt strongly while watching it.
Talking about the story, as I mentioned before the movie is a mix between different comic books. But the main part still is out of " The secret of the unicorn". It was surprising to see how they managed to stay that close to the comic book even tough they mixed in other parts and added some new features. In the comic book the evil guy Sakkharin is a harmless elderly guy and the conspiracy about the Unicorns Treasure has nothing to do with him, except that he is a collector and Tintin mistakes him for a robber. Also, Tintin already knows Captain Haddock out of "The crab with the golden claws" in the original comic book. In the movie they decided to make them meet exactly the way as they did in "The crab with the golden claws". Luckily they also threw in some of the main villains of that book, like the first mate Alan. It might sound a bit confusing while reading, but in the movie it all makes perfect sense. Since I am a big fan of the comic books I was really critical in the first 30 minutes of the movie but the way they captured the spirit of the books made me forget about it really quick, I can not say that enough. To make an example, every figure they took out of the books has exactly the same clothes as Herge drew them, that is attention to details! The characters are obviously great! Tintin is captured pretty well, even tough many complained about the way he looks. The problem here is that, even in the comic books he does not have any facial features at all. For instance Captain Haddock, Thompson and Thompson, Nestor all these characters have really specific facial features like beards, glasses etc. But with Tintin it is different in the comic books, his face is kind of plain and only his red cheeks and his hair is what makes him look special! So in my view, they did a good job with that! Toby Bell's voice acting is decent but he probably could not show off a lot since Tintin is not really talking that much in the movie. One thing is for sure, Andy Serkis was the best choice they could have made for Captain Haddock. He is absolutely amazing! He is funny, he is swearing exactly like in the comic books and he just has you in his ban the second he starts talking in his amazing Scottish accent. The only flaw with him is that they overdid his drinking problem a bit. In the comic books it is not as bad as it was displayed in the movie. The comic book Haddock likes drinking and occasionally gets drunk, the alcohol problem is shown in a subtle way, but movie Haddock is a alcoholic. Maybe they wanted to make it educational? But this is just a minor flaw in an otherwise great character! Nevertheless, with the main villain there are some problems as well.. I just do not get it why they chose Sakkharin... in the comic books he plays a minor role and they had a choice of many many great classic villains: Rastapopoulos, Dr. Mueller and more.... At least Haddock's first mate Alan is in the movie, but he is just not important to the story, whereas in the comic books he plays a major role. I understand that they could not have made him the main villain since he is only a thug of Rastapopoulos in the comic books but he would have been better than Sakkharin. Anyways, Daniel Craig's voice acting is good, but still the movie lacks in having a great main villain.
Overall, the movie is surprisingly good!. Nevertheless, Tintin and The secret of the Unicorn has some minor flaws and I still do prefer the cartoon series from 1991-1992 but there are many references to the cartoons and the books that make you forget about all that while watching the movie. For instance they break through the wall exactly as in the comic books, Haddock does kick a whiskey bottle exactly as in the comic books and the characters look mostly exact like in the comic books. ( Sakkharin, Haddock, the flea market salesman, Alan ( amazing ), Tintin's housekeeper... I am getting distracted here ) I find it amazing that Herge has a small role in the beginning of the movie where he asks Tintin if he has already drawn him before and Tintin answers: Occasionally. ( You might discover some Herge character portraits in the background ). Now I am really getting into the details so I might as well wrap this up: Great movie, great fun if you liked the comic books you are gonna love it!