The first thing you’ll realise upon watching The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, is just how far technology has come since Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers gave us a fully rendered Gollum. The scenery, charcters and lighting is sumptuous, rich and almost photo realistic. It’s so good that it puts Avatar to shame. The hair on all the charcters looks real, and there are points where you’re convinced that you are actually watching real people. The technology still struggles with mouths and eyes, but other than that they are fully engaging and sometimes jaw-dropping effects. The plot, while confusing and full or insane leaps of logic from Tintin himself, are interesting and resenably well-rounded. Craig’s Sakharine is suitably menacing and dastardly and Serkis’ Haddock is the pick of the bunch, bringing his character to life, like no other. Fan favourites Thomson (Simon Pegg) and Thompson (Nick Frost) are funny in their limited roles, although they feel a little tacked on, as does Aristides Silk (Toby Jones), and the inclusion of these three helps to take the film to 107 minutes in length, which makes it feel baggy and a little messy by the end.
It might be a case of ‘too much of a good thing’ with the script as there are some corking lines from each of the contributors, but too much material has been included and about 20 minutes could be cut. There are nods to the original animations in the comic in the form of caricatures, which will amuse fans of the comics and there’s even time for a nod to Spielberg’s summer classic Jaws. The action scenes are treated with care and an incredible sense of fun, as Spielberg puts on his Indiana Jones hat to make them heart-stopping and constantly escalating in size and impact. But the main problem for those who are not fans of the comics is the central lead.
Jamie Bell does an excellent job voicing Tintin, the problem with the character is that he is endlessly annoying. He always makes outrageous leaps of logic, that prove to be true and spends the film acting as a moral lightning rod against the flawed but lovable Haddock. His speeches, comments and general behaviour denote someone who is right, and serious too often, meaning that his character lacks the engagement level that an Indiana Jones reaches in a similar role. If it wasn’t for Snowy, he would almost no emotional standpoint. This won’t effect fans of the comics, as they’ll be used to it, but for a casual observer he comes across as preaching and irritating.
Still with future films slated and fairly healthy takings on its opening weekend, it seems the future will be populated with the further adventures of the boy genius. With Spielberg pulling back and Jackson stepping up to direct before a collaborative direction in the third film, there’s plenty of room for improvement in the basic mistakes made.
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