Adventures of Tintin: Speilberg's got it bang on this time

Thirty seconds into the opening sequence of “The adventures of Tintin” you know you’re about to witness something incredibly special. First, all the credits are written in that characteristic “Tintin” font, and then of course they are accompanied with a wonderfully rendered  re-enactment of a typical Tintin adventure.

As the names roll (you never end up reading them),  a cartoon Tintin engages with crooks, has an incredible chase scene or two, gets captured,  and is saved by Snowy  before he finally apprehends the criminals and hands them over to the police.  And from there things only get better.

The Adventures of Tintin is a wonderfully told, and masterfully scripted work of love. One of the reasons the movie was so hyped was because of the technology Spielberg was using to bring the story to life. 3D performance capture is the process of recording movement and translating that movement on to a digital model. It is the same technology  Peter Jackson employed to recreate his unforgettable Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. In fact Andy Serkiss who played Gollum in the movies takes on the role of Captain haddock for this film.

The danger of course in using such advanced technology  is that sometimes directors and producers get so carried away with the possibility of what they can do with it, that they let storyline suffer – like in the case of James Cameron’s Avatar.  But not Spielberg.  Of course the characters all move super realistically and the backdrops and scenes against which the story takes place are are just visually and cinematographically stunning. But even these take a backseat to the story which is a thrill-a-minute, action packed and suspense-filled adventure.

Without giving too much away, the story combines three Herge classics: The crab with the golden claws, The secret of the unicorn and Red Rackham’s treasure.  And we see many favourite Tintin characters making an appearance — like Snowy (who doesn’t talk), the colourful Captain Haddock, Thompson and Thomson, Red Rackham, and Bianca Castifiore (who has a stunning cameo).  All the characters are extremely convincing.  Everything about them — from their acting ,  to the way their voices sound—  are exactly the way you’d imagine them to be.

Tintin (played by Jamie Bell) is intelligent, sensitive and curious without being sanctimonious or annoying. Haddock makes a journey from irresponsible drunk to inspiring hero and the evil characters are delightfully evil. It is evident that Spielberg is a huge Tintin fan and that this is as much a labour of love as it is of ambition. He has also left a trail of lovely little easter eggs for other Tintinophiles, none of which will be revealed here.

And that brings us to the other  strong point of this film –  You dont have to have previously read  any of the Tintin books to enjoy this film. Spielberg has managed to cleverly bridge the (what you can only imagine to be yawning) gap between the Tintin aficionado and someone who has not read any of the books.

He introduces the characters well and highlights the little personality quirks that make them so memorable, while never letting the pace of the overall plot drop for a second.  My only complaint (and spoiler) is that there is no Professor Calculus in the movie. But I was kept happy because some broad hints of  a part two are dropped at the end. So there is still hope that he will make an appearance in a sequel.

In short, if you’re planning on only watching one movie this weekend make it Tintin. Adapting such a beloved literary character to cinema is a risky act bordering on hubris. But Spielberg has shown us that he is a true master at his art — and why if anyone could have done justice to the legions of Tintin fans out there it was him. Great snakes!