Spielberg's TINTIN movie

[Popyman]

I'm just going to see it because of the writers. Edgar Wright, Steven Moffat, and Joe Cornish working on one movie? Sign me up.

[bigsleepj]

It looks great, except that part with the motorcycle at the end and the telegraph wire. I find that slightly over the top, like so many big movies these days. Hopefully the movie can sell it when it comes, but my hopes just dropped slightly.

*grumble grumble grumble*

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Hmm... I'm one of the biggest Tintin fans and yes, that scene looks over-the-top but it seems in the spirit of Herge's adventures (and like a lot of fun). Definitely not subtle though.

[teigeki_calesa]

Either I'm more forgiving of adaptations, or I'm just allergic to nerd rage, because I just get annoyed when some "fans" say that something is "not what it's supposed to be". C'mon, emphasis on subtlety is out of place in an action adventure movie!

And let's face it; if not for that "motorcycle on a zipline" bit, a lot of people won't still be sold on watching this.

[bigsleepj]

Either I'm more forgiving of adaptations, or I'm just allergic to nerd rage, because I just get annoyed when some "fans" say that something is "not what it's supposed to be".

I never said that. I would hardly call my grumblings "rage" at all. There are things in the comic books that arguably stretch the suspension of disbelief all the way to France (although none of them involved telegraph wires and a motorcycle), and I never said something like "this is not how it should be I'm now going to never watch it and everyone who is going to watch it is an idiot and I will troll them to the end of time", nor do I intend to. Truth is that after the glut of bloated, over-the-top action-adventure films (Pirates of the Carribean 4, and especially Transformers 3) this year I'm just sick and tired of Hollywood insisting that things should be amped up to 11. That was really my complaint. I don't want to have to willingly suspend my disbelief, but rather just get carried away by the story. If you do things that are over the top... then it slams me out of the story. It is my pet peeve with many Hollywood films of late. When I complained that one scene was "over the top" I did not mean that it should be a "serious" film. You can be a great action film and not be "over the top".

emphasis on subtlety is out of place in an action adventure movie!

Although I wasn't calling for Secret of the Unicorn to be an underplayed art-house movie where everybody talk in hushed tones while contemplating the severed head of a chicken in a bowl of soup staring listlessly at the actors, I disagree. I would argue that the original Raiders of the Lost Ark, despite its great action sequences, had subtlety in its characterization, acting and dialogue. Although 'over the top' by early 1980s standards it still felt plausible. Older action-adventure films (particularly westerns, which was the main propagator of both) like John Ford's Stagecoach and Sergio Leone's The Good the Bad and the Ugly had what passed for subtlety in their days. There are other examples of action films that have subtly or at least pause for characterization. I know that many current films don't have subtlety and do well without them at the box office, but just because everyone is doing it doesn't mean it should dumb it down deliberately.

[teigeki_calesa]

Truth is that after the glut of bloated, over-the-top action-adventure films (Pirates of the Carribean 4, and especially Transformers 3) this year I'm just sick and tired of Hollywood insisting that things should be amped up to 11. That was really my complaint. I don't want to have to willingly suspend my disbelief, but rather just get carried away by the story.

I'll expound on my last sentence: if not for the said "over the top" sequences, I doubt that most of the people who were trashing this movie would have easily changed their minds when they saw the latest trailer. Let's face it; it's the "ease of pace" of the originals that actually turns off the average non fan, and they needed something to grab their attention. You may not be a fan of over the top gimmickry, as you say, but sadly, that's the way it is. *shrugs*

[bigsleepj]

True, but it doesn't mean I have to accept or like it.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Billions of blue blistering barnacles!
5 Sample scenes from the upcoming Tintin movie + 3 behind the scenes videos.
Spoilers ahead so watch at your own risk. Enjoy!

http://videos.dhnet.be/video/iLyROoaf2pT9.html

[bigsleepj]

Thompson and Thomson have ADD. I haven't watched all clips, but so far it looks promising.

Thanks for the great link.

*keeps fingers crossed*

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Here's the American Tintin movie trailer. It's very exciting and a lot of fun. There's more story context than previous trailers, so be warned - it's spoiler-heavy. Enjoy!

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/paramount/theadventuresoftintin/ (requires Quicktime)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=op3w_ICK4us (doesn't require Quicktime)

American classification for Tintin:
The official US site lists the movie as being PG for 'Adventure Action Violence, Some Drunkenness and Brief Smoking'.
Nevermind that the series doesn't encourage heavy drinking. Didn't see that coming. ;P

[Cognitive Gear]

It looks like there is some significant backlash among European reviewers.

I'm hoping that this is indeed just some sort of hardcore fanboy reaction. We all know the type: gets angry about even the smallest of changes. I'm still looking forward to enjoying it, as I can't imagine that it's actually a bad movie by looking at all of the wonderful people involved in it's creative teams.

[bigsleepj]

Some of the professional reviews that came in (like Empire Magazine and this one) gave it good to fair reviews. The people in the article really just seem to be nit-picking to me (and I'm saying this as a Tintinologist myself, who owns one of the books mentioned in the article).

To be fair, with the exception of the 1991 Tintin TV series, most animated adaptations are anything but true to the source material. One of my favourite books is The Calculus Affair, but its animated adaptation mucks it up completely.

Off course, I'm used to Franco-Belgium comic-book adaptations being altered, particularly the Asterix books, both as live-action and animation, so I was not bothered by the idea of combining three books. Sometimes these combinations worked, sometimes they failed horribly (particularly with the movie The Big Fight, which is just random and surreal, things Asterix never was).

Edit: Off course, it could just be that continental Europe takes Tintin more seriously than their British counterparts.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Cognitive Gear, it's interesting that you should say that there has been significant backlash from European reviewers. I've skimmed many reviews and they generally seem to be positive. Even the French and Belgian ones (which would be the most picky when it comes to Tintin).

Here's a collection of reviews for the movie (30+):
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0983193/board/thread/190048992

I own all of the Tintin albums and the 1990's TV series on DVD and countless books on Herge and Tintin. Big Sleep J is correct, most Tintin adaptations have played loose with the original material. Given the writers for this movie, I think we're in safe hands and I say that as a Tintinologist.

[Felix]

I have been a fan of Tintin since I was a wee lad, so I'm incredibly stoked for this movie! Thanks for the great link with those scenes, Warrior. I feel a lot better about those clips than I did about the trailer. The trailer looks great, but as others have pointed out, it did look a tad over the top and it was hard to determine if the final product would be true to the source material. From looking at the reviews though, and from what I know about Spielberg and Jackson, I think you're right in saying that the material is in safe hands, and the end product seems to be very promising.

I really hope that it ends up being successful so that we see more Tintin adventures done like this in the future! My fingers are crossed for the moon trip adventures...

[A_Yellow_Dress]

I'm super excited to see how all the mo-cap works out. ^^
The trailers make it look really impressive.

[bigsleepj]

And in other news, the movie manages to make $125 mill in foreign markets alone, which is extraordinary in itself.

Most general reviews seem to be positive, even from Belgium and Europe. Most negative reviews, however, came from Britian. Although two respectable film-mags, Empire and Total Film, gave the movie fair-to-good reviews some British Tintin scholars have gone crazy on the films. Tom McCarthy in particular.

[bigsleepj]

So, has anyone seen Tintin yet? If so, what's your thoughts?

I saw Tintin last night and enjoyed it overall. The film works for me on two levels, essentially. This is not a 'straight' or faithful adaptation of Tintin, but it does show a great deal of love for Tintin and its cast of characters. The plot and action is a little more towards the start of the series where the stories were loosely constructed and vaguely surreal (Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, Cigars of the Pharaohs). They worked in so many references, so many 'shout-outs' to various Tintin works and characters and villains that it feels closer to a Tintin fan-fiction than anything. Not always a bad thing. That said, this does hurt the film at times, which I will get to.

On the other side I recognize that the cast, crew, and Steven Spielberg had fun making this film. Simon Pegg said that this movie was "Spielberg unleashed" and that is true; Spielberg goes completely over-the-top towards the end because he enjoys the freedom the technology gives him. I'll admit I have a soft-spot for any movie that can make me go "what the heck how did they think they can get away with this" and this movie, particularly in the motorcycle chase, reaches levels of this. Same with the 'flashback' to the past and the final 'duel' towards the end. This is one of the few times where something is over-the-top and I like it, though not every Tintin fan will be pleased (one some level as a Tintin fan I am not pleased but as a movie fan it works).

Something that annoyed me was that Jamie Bell and Andy Serkis overacted. Bell's Tintin is something of a "Captain Obvious" who likes to talk to himself saying things like "it must be a clue", which comes off weird in film. Although Serkis' Haddock overacts (and is a character who can get away with this) his Scottish accent was a bit annoying and is at times too hammy. That said, he had a few moments of good acting through the mo-cap (like he had in Rise of the Planet of the Apes).

(and now minor spoilers)
Things I REALLY did not like were things endemic to Spielberg children movies, namely weird childish humour. Much of the sequence in the air-plane runs the gamut of annoying, stupid things I've seen ("FUUUUUMES" ??? ). Worse was the shout-outs to another Tintin adventure in this sequence that feels weird and does not fit (when it happens you'll know). This is one of the instances where the writer's references to other works, I feel, worked against the movie. I feel like punching Edgar Wright, Steven Moffat, Cornish and Spielberg for this sequence. Or at least box their ears. Or send them a sternly written letter.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Hmm... I'm intrigued. I'll have to wait until the 27th to see the movie. I'm prepared.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

My movie review - no spoilers:

Last night I finally saw The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn. I've been waiting many years for this movie. While there were some things I would've changed, I really enjoyed it. The movie consisted of most of The Secret of the Unicorn album, over half of The Crab with the Golden Claws and the tiniest bit of Red Rackham's Treasure (about 25% is original content).

PROS: It's Tintin in the flesh! (sort of). Herge! The movie shows the creators had huge love and respect for Herge and Tintin. Opening credits reminiscent of Catch Me If You Can credits - brilliant, amazing visuals that really capture Herge's art style, great acting/voice-acting, attention to detail - lots of easter egg moments for the die-hard Tintin fans. Mostly true to Herge's characters and the spirit of the adventures. Good script with some clever dialogue. Moments of quality humour, and impressive action. John William's music.

CONS: The last act of the movie while exciting and action-packed was a little too-over the top at times and was the weakest part of the script (not bad at all, it just sacrifices story for creative action scenes). John Williams music - it was great but more 'fun' than 'suspenseful'. I prefer much of the music from the early 90's Ellipse/Nelvana TV series. I would've liked to see more of Captain Haddock's angry and creative swearing. The movie lacks some of the finesse and clever character humour found in Herge's albums. Some villains were given less screen time.

Overall, the first 2/3rds or so of the movie are brilliant, the last third is merely very good. Naturally, the movie is best when it doesn't depart from the original stories. It's great to finally see a Tintin movie that's good!
Highly recommended!

8.5/10

*Tintin is rated PG for action violence. Suitable for older children.*

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

People of America, what did you think of the movie? Enjoy it, dislike it? Have you heard of Tintin before? Surely there are others who've seen it. After all, BigSleep J and I aren't even American (so we don't count).

[teigeki_calesa]

It seems that we're the only ones here who knew of this movie's existence.

Am sad.

[mechana2015]

Oh sorry everyone...

I saw this about 2 weeks ago (2D) and I enjoyed the living daylights out of it. I'm a fan of TinTin, but not an expert, and it seemed to me that the contents were pitched right at my level. Funny, well animated, probably a better pirate ship fight than the finale of the PotC trilogy, and nothing so annoying or strange (the Tintin collection I own has a UFO in it...) to seem out of place. I was only bothered by the CGI actors in one scene, and loved all the references and the introduction of the variety of characters and the universe. I went with a person who knew nothing of the series and they greatly enjoyed it as well, so it's both a well executed (if a bit softball) interpretation of the comics that fans can enjoy, and a well executed movie that seems to be a good introduction to the Tintin-verse for those that weren't previously aware of it.