pros/cons from a fan of the comic books

Rating: 6/10 (28 December 2011)

yes, I did enjoy most of this movie. Considering myself as someone who knows the books, backgrounds, chronology etc. by heart I would like to point out, where this movie fails and where not - just imho of course!
pros: - bringing the characters and images to life like this is nothing less but what I would call a great and impressive success! - directing/blending over to the background story works perfectly and is as smooth as it could get! - many references for fans honoring tintin's and Herge'e background. - opening sequence including introduction of Tintin in the beginning works fine! A deep bow for the books and their creator! (though it feels like just another spielberg'esque opening title... don't get me wrong: it worked perfectly! was just nothing new or rare to see...) - references to other books of the series worked just fine withing the situations! - the story preserved and worked on several layers and location together. - The music felt perfect! Original, appropriate and supporting! No annoying pop-songs just to sell soundtracks!
cons: - I still don't see any reason to go for 3D but to make piracy harder to film off the silver screen... it barely adds anything to the movie. It makes everything just darker, which I don't appreciate... Furthermore it seems to make filmmakers go crazy about pointy and flying objects... so far it only worked for me in Tron because it added dimension to the story, literally. - Though the books have their origin in the slapstick comedy in the 1920s it is a little overdone here. But that might be a matter of personal preference. - Haddock is a little to vulgar with his alcohol issues... running on fumes... well... those situations are what I would consider as clearly overstepping the boundaries of the originals... - mixing several stories felt a little bumpy and less thought through... more like a collage with more or less hard edges... - Spielberg... to put this the most respectful and diplomatic way: his way of story telling is absolutely nothing for me! I don't like being told what I see, I don't need characters to think aloud about what is going on... to be fair: he did worse in the past... still: if you need to explain what is going on, if you need off voices or repetition: please consider questioning the approach of directing in first place! - The whole story was cut down to pure adventure and treasure hunt, without leaving room for any deeper connotations...
I was excited when I learned that Moffat would write the script, honestly: I see his work based of the last two seasons of Doctor Who much more skeptical... I was not happy about Spielbergs involvement, though there might not have been any way around him for this project... after Indy and his long time involvement in the making/holding the rights... At least, and last but not least: I believe we all have to thank Peter Jackson for his impact on this work! Visually great and as faithful to the comic books as possible! Sadly Moffat seems not to care about plausibility nor about continuity and Spielberg did not care to fix this...
So it is just like with too many others: watch with your eyes only and skip all other parts of your head. If you are not familiar with Tintin at all: have a great time with a fine piece of movie.