The Adventures of Tintin (2011)

[InformationGeek]

Wow.  Just, wow.  I can't believe it.  This movie, for me, was just incredible.  I mean, I can't believe it.  It was probably the best film I saw this year.  It was better than Rango, Harry Potter 7.2, Captain America, Attack the Block, The Muppets, and even Super 8.  I knew I was going to like it, but not this much!

Let's start from the top before I go all crazy.  The Adventures of Tintin is about the young journalist named Tintin and his dog named Snowy.  One day, Tintin ends up buying this model ship of the Unicorn, which has an interesting clue that could lead him to the great secret of the ship.  However, Ivan Ivanovitch Sakharine is after this secret, or perhaps something else, so Tintin must figure out this mystery before he does.  Along the way, he runs into Captain Haddock, who plays a huge part in this whole thing.  I'll stop right there.

This movie does just about everything right to me.  The story, while simple, is a lot of fun and moves at a great pace.  The voice acting is incredible, I couldn't tell who was who in this movie, especially Daniel Craig (I mean seriously, you would never guess it was him voicing Ivan).  The action is just perfect, with the camera always getting the right angle so the impact of each blow or shot feels strong.  In fact, the chase scene in Bagghar just made my top 10 list for best action scenes I've seen in a movie.  The soundtrack was also great, John Williams did a fanastic job on it and worked well with each piece in the film.  Also, the 3D.  Worked just great, probably the best I've ever seen it used in any film I've ever seen.

Now, the animation.  The movie is a combination of CGI for the world and the animals, while motion capture is used on the people.  Motion capture, mocap if you will, tends to not really look that good or gives off a very creepy look to people when used.  In this movie, there was absolutely no problem with.  Everyone looks great and on some occasions, I almost swear they somehow sunk in some real live actors into the scene.

This was probably the best film I saw this year and probably will be the only one I want to go back to the theater to see again.  It just was a perfect film for me.  I have no compliants about it all!  That feels kind of odd to me since there is normally something I could find wrong, but not here.  Maybe a second viewing will do the trick, but right now, it was just easily one of the best movies I've ever seen.  I'm not even a fan of Tintin and I just love this film.  People, you have to see this film.  This is probably the best film to end 2011 off.  You'll all have a fun time, besides 3 of you.

[Pillow]

Loved this one as well. Definitely check out the comic books if you liked it, the film captured their ambience well.

[Kaseykockroach]

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kk34YIJWPQw" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kk34YIJWPQw</a>

[InformationGeek]

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kk34YIJWPQw" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kk34YIJWPQw</a>

So, you really enjoyed this movie!  That's great.  Thanks for showing me you were not one of the 3 I thought wouldn't enjoy this.   

[The Burgomaster]

My wife and I just saw this and really enjoyed it!   

[Hammock Rider]

I liked it. It was fun.

[Rev. Powell]

Just posted to say InfoGeek is right.  I'm surprised more people aren't in love with this.  It's pretty much perfect at what it sets out to do.  It's nonstop clliffhangers, the best thrill ride since RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK.

[Derf]

I saw this a couple of days ago and enjoyed it immensely. It is very true to the spirit of the Tintin adventures. The animation is a little on the creepy side just because some people look incredibly real while others maintain so much of the comic's aspect that they look grotesque. But the story and the action work very well, with Spielberg doing what he does best: action sequences. I look forward to the sequel, whenever that may be.

[ulthar]

Watched it with my 6 yo son this past weekend, and previous comments spot on.  Great movie.

When Spielberg is making 'just fun movies,' he gets amazing results.  He can keep the preachy stuff...

Highly recommend this one!   

[Mofo Rising]

Tintin is the soccer/football of the comics world, a genuine global phenomenon that is pretty much ignored in America. To give you an idea of how widespread the comics are, the grad students from India I was working with last year were all reading Hindi versions of the Tintin comics on their computers. Herge's creation deserves all the accolades it gets.

I saw the 3-D version of the movie while I was in Juneau, and I was very, very impressed. As Derf said, it is very true to the original comics, and if you haven't read them, go out and do it now. It's a combination of a few story's plots, mostly Secret of the Unicorn.

It's a story with a lot of heart and larger than life characters. I was very happy that the sea captain remained an old drunk, something I was worried would get toned down. (They did tone down Snowy's drinking problem.)

What really impressed me were the action set-pieces, which were gigantic. The pirate battle was incredible, only to be later topped by the madcap race through the city streets. Hugely entertaining with an important understanding of space and action. As many things are going on in those scenes, there are mercifully few quick-cuts. In fact, the scenes are some of the most fluid in recent memory. A lot of this has to do with the freedom of CGI and some excellent work by people who really know what they're doing. Tie that in with the phenomenal use of 3-D, something generally not done well, and the eye never gets tired while watching the movie.

I've been recommending this movie to everybody.

[ulthar]

What really impressed me were the action set-pieces, which were gigantic.

I've got to admit that I get rather annoyed when action scenes, especially fight scenes, become TOO cartoonish.  TINTIN managed to throw one at me that I loved for the sheer beauty of it...I mean not only visual beauty, but creative beauty.

I don't want to stray into spoiler territory, but the specific scene I'm talking about is a sort of 'modern sword fight' between two of the main characters near the end.  I was laughing like a small boy at the sheer lunacy, BRILLIANT lunacy, of that whole bit.  It was great.

Perhaps that was in the comics (regretfully, I don't know), but either way....great stuff.  It's one of the many things that makes this flick a real treat.

[Jim H]

I quite enjoyed this one.  I'll say I regret having seen it in 3D.  As usual, it added nothing to me and the movie looked much more dim than it should have (the downside of polarized glasses).  Which is too bad, as the world of Tintin is often bright and colorful.

Doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it was enjoyable with good characters.  The texture work in this is probably the best I have ever seen.  I'd agree that some of the art style was a little inconsistent - think I'd have preferred a bit more cartoony look.  Still, a lot of fun.  You can really tell this is a Spielberg film - the action scenes feel quite a bit like Raiders of the Lost Ark, actually.  In a good way.

For me it's a high 7 or a low 8...  I'll lean towards the 8/10.

[tracy]

Saw this in yesterday's paper and had to post it...

http://www.arcamax.com/thefunnies/bizarro/s-1025295

[dean]

I saw it in 3D and quite enjoyed it.  Was a lovely film with some great action and not as much sappy stuff as I was expecting so that was good.

[Trevor]

I haven't seen this as yet ~ I'm a Tintin fanboy and I read that three of the books have been combined to make this (i.e. The Crab With The Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham's Treasure) while a minor character in the Unicorn book has now been made the villain. 

I would really like to see it but I don't know if I should or not.