The Thrill-seeker

I grew up reading, nah...devouring Hergé’s Tintin books, so you best believe that when I first heard that Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg were teaming up to bring the intrepid reporter’s cool adventures to the big screen I was beyond-excited.

Now, having seen the filmmakers’ 3-D, motion-captured The Adventures of Tintin I can say I am...pleased.

Don’t get me wrong, with Jackson producing and Spielberg directing the movie’s a good time, but I am not the biggest fan of 3-D or motion capture, so that sorta totally put a damp on my enjoyment of the blockbuster. (The glasses the former calls for darken the movie, and I find the latter business to give the figures on screen a whiff of the creepy.)

Plus, as outstandingly talented as these two Hollywood heavyweights are, no one can capture the might of Hergé. His illustrations were full of life as they were, on paper (I guess you could say I really found the Belgian writer-illustrator’s books to be the most magical I ever read), so my standard and expectation for The Adventures of Tintin may have been much too high.

Having said all of this, though, I found the movie to be rather spectacular, especially when it was in motion, which was almost all the time. Spielberg has delivered a relentless 101 minutes of, well...adventure that is constantly go, go, go.

And I likey a lot.

The story finds Tintin (voiced by Jamie Bell with fearless curiosity) on the trail of a big story, as he always is, which leads him and his loyal sidekick Milou...uhh...I mean, Snowy, to a treasure hunt. His quest for a sunken ship, the Unicorn, partners him with the drunken Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis), who has a connection to the ship...and to the notorious pirate Red Rackham (Daniel Craig, hamming it menacingly).

We see Tintin and his friends (keep your eyes open for many fan faves!) traveling the world to many an exotic location by air and by sea, always outsmarting his dastardly enemies thanks to the cowlicked one’s unquenchable wit in breathless chase after breathless chase until they finally unravel the mystery at hand – while unlocking a clue or two about the next one (fingers crossed for a sequel).

Yes, I did find myself wishing The Adventures of Tintin had been more traditionally animated, especially when the movie paused on the characters’ faces (motion capture renders ’em a bit soulless for my taste), but I also found myself transported and wishing the journey would not end.

And that, in anyone’s book, is a good thing.

My Rating ***

Photo: Paramount Pictures.