Seen: In 3D at the AMC/Loews at Boston Common.
Every name attached to this movie is impressive, so despite my aversion to motion-capture animation it wasn't hard to convince me to see The Adventures of Tintin. I never read the comics but knew of them from friends who'd studied them in French language classes. Spielberg's version throws us into the action almost immediately and rarely lets up as famed boy reporter Tintin (Jamie Bell) uncovers a mystery surrounding a model ship and a family curse. He teams up with an alcoholic sea captain (Andy Serkis) on an international treasure hunt, trying to stay a few steps ahead of generally evil dude Rackham (Daniel Craig).
Seemingly hellbent on taking the phrase "action-packed" literally, Tintin is a breathless adventure tale whose phenomenal action setpieces and chase scenes were enough to distract me from some of the problems I have with the motion-capture style. The script is sharp and funny, even if the story is all over the place. The characters are set up quickly and no one needs very much development- although Captain Haddock gets a little plot-convenient baggage-, and for the most part that works fine since this is a family-friendly action movie that seeks to introduce a foreign-language comic published over fifty years ago. It shouldn't be too heavy. This simplification did keep me from having strong affection for the characters, though (or maybe that's how it always is in the books, I wouldn't know).
Mostly I was trying to figure out Tintin's age. He's a "boy" reporter who looks to be about 14-15, rents his own apartment, doesn't seem to have any parental/guardian figures about, and OWNS a GUN. I mean I know it's the 30's or whenever but jeez. Also why aren't there any women in this movie? Like, at all. And no the opera singer and landlady don't count, they each get about 5 minutes of screen time. I kept expecting some cute tween girl reporter to show up as a sassy rival/love interest.
ANYWAY. That one-shot chase scene through Bagghar was the main thing that everyone kept harping on, and my goodness they were right. My mouth kept going more and more agape as it progressed, I mean it was just so beautiful. So perfectly shot and paced. So exciting! I don't like motion capture primarily because of the uncanny plasticine look to all the figures and the strange blend of hyper-realism with exaggerated features. Everyone in Tintin would have very natural clothing and movements, but then like a huge nose that totally didn't fit the rest of their face. And everyone's hands were too big, it looked clunky. But for the intricate action scenes like that chase, and the seaplane escape, and the huge pirate ship battle, I'll pipe down.
And obviously the cast is excellent, duhhh. Andy Serkis is maybe the best part.
4/5
Pair This Movie With: Obviously anything Indiana Jones-y, but also you could play Uncharted 3.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (2011)
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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 Alex.
ReplyDeleteI always wondered the same thing about Billy Batson, AKA Captain Marvel.
ReplyDeleteI thought this was by far and away the best motion-capture (animated, so we're not talking LOTR or Apes) film ever. I always felt the purpose of that technique was to find the perfect middle ground between something that looked as real as it could while retaining cartoonish elements. To me 'Tintin' did that wonderfully. It won me over from the first scene. Then again, perhaps my affinity with the source material is clouding my judgement, cause I think it is precisely that 'perfect middle ground' that creeps people out.
ReplyDeleteTintin's age is never explored in the books either, although he is reasonably young. I don't know about 14, though. I always had him in my head as 17, 18 or so.