Earlier this week Fiance and I watched Tintin the movie and holy crap! As a lover of the comics I was nervous sitting down to watch the film. Super curious, but nervous. I was scared they were going to horribly wreck and abuse the wonderful Herge stories of childhood (and, to be honest, stories of my present hood).
But they didn't, which means I don't have to write another angry letter to Peter Jackson (I'm very annoyed about certain things in the Hobbit). In fact, the care that Spielberg and Jackson put into this film made me insanely happy. They decided to combine three stories into one, The Crab with the Golden Claw, The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham's Treasure and they did so seamlessly. It gave them the opening to have Tintin meet Captain Haddock and at the same time, enjoy the fun and beauty of North Africa. The inclusion of the Milanese Nightingale made me squee with delight. Poor Fiance; he is not as familiar with Tintin as I am and so he had to put up with me squeeing about little gems (at the begging of the film, there is a man drawing Tintin's portrait. Not only does he produce the Herge portrait of Tintin but behind Tintin are the portraits of various other characters) and commenting on changes to the story.
Thankfully Fiance enjoyed the film as well and didn't just have to spend 90 minutes beside an over-excited fan.
The first thing he got very excited about was the CGI. Some critics have said that the film crosses into the uncanny valley but the wasn't the experience for either of us. The movements of the characters were very smooth and the animation of their expressions and mouths as they spoke did not feel uncomfortable. The animation kept the cartoon feel of Herge's stories and allowed for the bending of physics and what would actually kill a human. For example, Captain Haddock's parachute gets caught in the blade of a propeller at one point and we watch the Captain fly around and around. It's fun, but as mentioned, bends what would actually kill a human.
And Snowy! I was very excited to meet the hyper-intelligent, adorable sidekick of Tintin. Snowy is based on a fox terrier and in the comics has his own thoughts and commentaries on what is happening around him. Sadly, that was not kept in the film but Snowy stilled reined supreme in being extremely agile, humorous, and cute.
This movie was definitely made with the feel of Indiana Jones for kids, something I had never really thought of as Tintin being, prior to this film. I suppose it is true though, only Tintin is pretty much asexual and I don't think he ever kills anyone. Still with that in mind, it was entertaining to hear the John Williams Indiana-esque music and see Tintin and Captain Haddock racing through an exotic city on motor bikes with a tank following them. It made me laugh.
If you are a fan of the Tintin books, I do recommend checking this movie out. It's a great deal of fun to see these characters come to life. Even if you aren't familiar with the Tintin books I recommend this movie. It's a lot of fun (and then you should check out the Tintin books as they are so very much awesome). This movie is available on Netflix, which is where we found it. Good movie for a Friday night when you want something light and fun with a cute, spunky dog.
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