Steven Spielberg directs The Adventures of Tintin, a movie that looks like straight-up computer animation from the get-go, but is actually a motion-capture film, shot with actors giving movement and expression to their computer counterparts.
Based on author Hergé‘s 1930s Belgian comic hero Tintin — a boy journalist with a smart and scrappy dog– The Adventures of Tintin contains one of the most impressively choreographed chase sequences in the history of movies.
Seriously, this kinetic free-for-all chase down the side of a hill would never be possible without animation, but Buster Keaton would be proud. Unfortunately, the rest of the movie suffers from its own limitations.
Since we don’t have time to slow down and get to know Tintin (Jamie Bell) or his dog Snowy too much, we are left to fend on our own with a silly plot about an alcoholic boat captain (Andy Serkis) looking for three scrolls. Which is too bad considering the powerhouse writing team of Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish, plus the talents of producer Peter Jackson.
Essentially, there’s a bad guy, a macguffin, and a subplot about the captain regaining the pride of his family name, but it doesn’t really draw the audience in that much.
The Adventures of Tintin offers calorie-free empty thrills for sure, so if you want to see Spielberg trying to recapture his Raiders of the Lost Ark heyday as an animated kids’ movie, you may dig this.
It’s slight fun, but fun nonetheless.
Eric is the Editor-in-Chief of Scene-Stealers.com, a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, and contributor for The Pitch. He’s former President of the KCFCC, and drummer for The Dead Girls, Ultimate Fakebook, and Truck Stop Love . He is also the 2013 Air Guitar World Champion Mean Melin, ranked 4th best of all-time. Eric goes to 11. Follow him at:
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Spielberg may not score much points when it comes to his use of motion-capture animation here but the film still benefits from a fun and kinetic direction that brings him back to his old Indiana Jones days. Serkis is a riot the whole time as well. Great review. Check out mine when you get the chance.
Dug it. Thanks for the suggestion. Those dead eyes are still a problem, aren’t they? Which is weird considering how that was completely avoided in RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES. Weren’t they both WETA projects?
I liked your review but I wish you could give more detail for cynics. I see Hollywood movies like I hear Clear Channel broadcast music on the radio. Same song, different artist. I was stoked when I saw the Tin-Tin trailer before having to sit through another Pixar flick with my daughter, and she said it looked boring and I should see it by myself. After your review, I’m guessing I can guess every next scene and save my 12 dollars.
Josh- Well a couple of the action scenes are pretty extraordinary but there isn’t anything in the story to grab a hold of. It’s pretty clearly put together as a chase picture that does things that couldn’t be done in real life.
The chase down the mountain was awesome.
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