Film Reviews

The Adventures of Tintin

• Rating:
• Director: Steven Spielberg
• Starring: Daniel Craig
• Details: US/106mins PG

Fanboy dreams are made of pairings like this. Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson have teamed up to tackle a popular cartoon character, even if it's one known to few in Hollywood. The first of a proposed trilogy - with Spielberg helming this one, Jackson the next and both co-directing the third - Tintin is a thoroughly well-executed affair that boasts the most impressive motion capture effects we've seen to date. Despite that fact, it's an empty shell of a film and Tintin himself comes off as little more than an anal boy scout with an inexplicable drive.
We first meet our pointy-fringed hero as he picks up a pint-sized antique boat at a bargain price. Getting there moments before Daniel Craig's dastardly Ivanovich Sakharine, he soon smells a mystery and sets out to investigate after an Interpol agent is killed on his doorstep. Teaming up with an alcoholic ship captain with a bloodline intrinsically linked to the mystery, Tintin and his loyal dog Snowy find themselves trying to get to the bottom of another mystery.
Having never read the books that this Hollywood adaptation is based on, my reaction to the character is based purely on this cinematic interpretation - and it's not good. The script assumes that you know the background, so it never bothers to give its main character anything resembling context for his actions. He's just a boy in search of adventure, and somehow has the naturally acquired skills of Jason Bourne and Sherlock Holmes combined - yet he still needs a dog that makes the Littlest Hobo look like Cujo to get him out of many a scrape.
Main character gripes aside, Tintin is a film blatantly driven by set-pieces, with a plot about as complicated as Pirates of the Caribbean 4. Giving the quality of the screenwriters (Stephen Moffat, Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish) you'd have been forgiven for expecting more. Spielberg never really connects with the material or characters in the way you'd expect, but admittedly, he delivers on the eye candy front.
Aesthetically, The Adventures of Tintin is easily the best looking motion capture film yet (is that like 'skinniest kid in fat camp' syndrome?) The eyes aren't as dead as previous Robert Zemekis-helmed outings, and the characters all move in a realistic, if slightly stylised manner. The heightened features are a little distracting at first, but not wacky enough to sneak into Shrek territory, either.
Young boys will find plenty here to enjoy, not least some impressive set pieces. But Tintin doesn't have even one character worth caring about - other than a dog - and the plot is rudimentary, at best.