Blistering Blue Barnacles!

Rating: 7/10 (21 November 2011)

When Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson team up as director and producer, the outcome is easy to predict: they can't fail. They've unearthed the work of Belgian maestro Georges Prosper Remi, better known as Hergé, and have given it the American kiss of life.
The titular adventures are a dextrous amalgam of three Tintin stories: 'The Crab with the Golden Claws', Red Rackham's Treasure' and 'The Secret of the Unicorn'. As far as I can tell the three writers – Steven Moffat (of Dr Who fame), Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish – have remained faithful to the spirit of the comics and animated series.
The performance-capture technology used produces a veritable feast for the eyes. It is of such a high calibre that there is little room for improvement. The visual effects trounce those seen in 'Avatar' – and at a fraction of the cost ($130m is chicken feed nowadays). The great thing about the technology is how fluid the camera can be. We see angles and movements that no director, however skilled, can attain in real life. The long kinetic sequences are immeasurably impressive.
After buying a model of a ship bearing a unicorn, Tintin is immediately pursued by a nefarious man with the ironic name of Sakharine (Daniel Craig). Tintin slowly learns the reason for why he is being hounded and decides, in the interest of good journalism and adventure, to uncover the secret of the unicorn.
Into his quest he befriends Archibald Haddock, a gregarious sea captain who has a cruise ship of a nose and a weakness for whisky. Their perilous mission takes them across Europe via more modes of transport than you'll find in a Bond film.
The jokes are funny and varied. The persiflage between Haddock and Tintin is masterfully written. Andy Serkis, as Haddock, again brings a cartoon to life and it's about time the man was recognised for it. Jamie Bell, though not Spielberg's first choice, does well as Tintin. I've not heard him speak anything other than his Northern dialect before, but his refined English would stand up in any Received Pronunciation test. The famous bumbling police officers, Thomson and Thompson (identically sounding Simon Pegg and Nick Frost), are on hand to provide laughs and incompetence.
The film is atmospheric, which at times has a semblance of film noir. The only thing I recall about repeats of the Tintin cartoons from the '90s is that I couldn't follow them. That's not a problem here. If audiences don't assume the plot for themselves, characters reveal them for us. You just sit back and enjoy the ride.
I saw the film in 2-D because I am not convinced that 3-D is the way forward (see my review of 'Avatar'). Like all the kids I saw this with, I can't wait for the next one.
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