The Indiana Jones franchise is and will always be one of the giants of the adventure genre. We should accept that when it comes to adventure, Steven Spielberg will never top Raiders of the Lost Ark, but in his defense, neither will anyone else. Sadly, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull felt cartoony and done out of obligation rather than any sense of desire to revive the character. Spielberg picks up a fresh adventure franchise by adapting Hergé‘s internationally beloved Tintin comics, but The Adventures of Tintin manages to feel even more like a weightless cartoon. All the beats are correct and there’s no need to compromise or carry the baggage of Dr. Jones’ previous efforts, but Spielberg and producer Peter Jackson (who was a de facto co-director on the film) fall into the traps of using motion capture and 3D without understanding how to best utilize either technology. Tintin presumes to be a grand adventure but there’s no sense of danger and even if there were, there would be no reason to care about whether our heroes escape from it.
The film opens with adventurous young journalist Tintin (Jamie Bell) making a seemingly-innocuous purchase of a model version of The Unicorn, a ship lost at sea generations ago. But Tintin isn’t the only one who wants the model and the nefarious Ivanovich Sakharine (Daniel Craig) attempts to steal the miniature replica because it holds the secret to finding the real Unicorn. Tintin and his adorable dog Snowy become swept up in the adventure to find what Sakharine is up to and discover the secret of the Unicorn. However, that secret lies with the drunken Captain Archibald Haddock (Andy Serkis), and he’s too soused to remember it.
Tintin makes a crucial misstep from the outset: it assumes we already know and love Tintin. Audiences who’ve read Hergé’s books and are familiar with the character will most likely carry that goodwill into the theater and project it onto the big screen incarnation. For everyone else, Tintin seems too uptight to be an adventurer. He methodically goes through clues and knows how to throw a punch, but he lacks any interesting flaws. He can learn to perfectly fly a plane in a matter of minutes, and his outstanding personality trait seems to be his annoyance with everyone he encounters. Haddock fares a bit better since he functions as the comic relief and he has a character arc, but the movie makes him a bit too one-dimensional by relying heavily on his drunkenness. Sakharine is one-dimensional as well, but he’s such a perfect embodiment of moustache-twirling villainy that the character works in a broad adventure. Tintin is meant to be in the same mold, but he’s a by-the-book adventurer, which really isn’t in the spirit of adventure.
Playing adventure in such a predictable fashion is a problem that runs throughout Tintin. Spielberg and Jackson know how to hit the right beats and in theory the set pieces should be terrific. There are fist-fights, high-flying escapades, and an impressive single-shot chase through the streets of the fictional Moroccan city of Bagghar. But all of the action lacks weight because the scenes don’t tell us anything new about the characters. Tintin rarely feels like it’s living in the present because Tintin and Haddock are always looking for the next clue rather than experiencing adventure in the moment. It’s also difficult to buy Tintin as a real person when he’s able to fly through the air with the greatest of ease.
That lack of danger could be blamed on the animation, but other animated films can create a sense of death-defying action without any difficulty (Pixar’s Up is one of the best adventure movies since Raiders). The issue is the reliance on motion-capture, which grounds the movie with human actors but then wants to leave them behind whenever a big action scene is on the line. Superheroes get the same treatment, but Tintin and Haddock aren’t supposed to have superpowers. When Tintin rushes into traffic, there’s a sense of excitement and danger, but when’s jumping in and out of houses and surviving plane crashes, that realism fades away and we’re left to wonder why Spielberg and Jackson bothered with motion capture in the first place.
The answer seems to be that the directors found a new set of toys and wanted to play with them. Unfortunately, they don’t realize these aren’t toys but tools and they need to be utilized correctly and thoughtfully or else they lose their purpose. I applaud the character designers for making the hybrid of human and exaggerated features look natural, but trying to blend realistic movement with superhuman feats never comes together. And Jackson should know better since he and his geniuses at WETA showed the world what mo-cap had to offer when they created Gollum.
This misunderstanding of how to properly use recent technology is even more egregious when it comes to the 3D. It’s difficult to speak definitively on how much 3D causes a headache since everyone’s tolerance is different. Personally, I found The Adventures of Tintin to be one of the most headache-inducing experiences I’ve ever had. I’ve never had to take off my glasses so many times during a movie, and when I looked up, I saw a brighter picture and surprisingly, not much divergence (the more divergence in an image, the more 3D it looks when you’re wearing glasses). However, the amount of 3D is irrelevant, because none of it is used effectively. The set pieces are visually dynamic without the 3D and it feels like another tool Spielberg and Jackson used simply because they could.
The Adventures of Tintin doesn’t have the phoned-in feeling of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Tintin‘s problem is presumption. It presumes we’ll love the characters. It presumes the motion-capture is necessary. It presumes that 3D will draw us deeper into the world. Everyone presume their approach will work, but Spielberg and Jackson’s presumptions are based on their enthusiasm for the project rather than taking a step back and critically examining what their movie requires in order to be an exhilarating adventure. There’s enough earnestness in Tintin to keep the movie honest, but it’s not enough to keep it exciting.
Rating: C
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I wholeheartedly Diss-agree! I loved Tin Tin, I expected to hate it but was surprised by it. Stunning mocap. Fun adventure. Not perfect as a film but what is these days?
Rango was also stunning and had about the same amount of genius and flaws in it.
But as a movie, Tin Tin was definitely worth the price of my ticket. And the 3D was good too. (though it was my first 3D animated film in a theater)
Life is lonely and sometimes even boring. need- a fresh thing to excite mind.BlackwhitePlanet. C’ 0- M it’s where to- connect with beautiful and excellent people! Maybe you wanna ch’eck it out or tell your friends.
movies are different Matt! oh well, what’s the use of complaining when the guy won’t change and just completely hate movies over and over again. this movie is for dumb people eh?
Mr. Goldberg, you cynical piece of sugadash are entirely MISSING THE POINT — I had the best of time with TINTIN and CAP HADDOCK at the movies, so despite being such a star-spangled trash, you wiseass ought to celebrate this, and discard the CRYSTAL SKULL for the piece of **** it truly was! Folks, give this a chance — as it’s one of Spielberg’s AND Jackson’s best movies in some time — and discard this dooche besserwisser reviewer, who doesn’t know his *** from his elbow!!!
Please leaving talking to the literates.
I still haven’t seen “Hugo” I’d rather see that than this bore.
Be prepared to be bored by Hugo. Unless you’re prepared accept that the special effects in early silent films are orders of magnitude more wondrous than a wind up mechanical man programmed with gears to draw elaborate pictures after being rebuilt by a ten year old. That movie’s priorities are ridiculous.
This guy is probably right about the movie, but, man, his writing irritates me with such intensity.
I agree with Matt. Tintin was always a stupid character and this movie was Terrible. Spielberg must be retire, Tintin and War horse are both crap movies.
Well, you cynical besserwisser wiseasses, HUGO has already t-a-n-k-e-d at the North American B.O. despite the talent of Martin Scorcese. HUGO is D.O.A. Frankly, HUGO looks like it’ll bore me to death. TINTIN never will — and it’ll conquer the US B.O. since it delivers!!! Get a life.
Why does the Collider staff allow Matt to review the good movies????
Matt is kinda of D-Bag but he is right about this movie. The first part starts off well but the second part gets boggled down by stupid Pirates of Caribbean elements (it feels way out of place here)….and by the time the movie is over you realize that Tin Tin was a big waste of time (in my opinion). The biggest problem with the movie is that all the character are so stupid….it kind of a bad sign when the dog is smarter then 90% of the characters…anyhoo…just my opinion. lol
what more do u expect from a graphic novel ??? yeh right anyway its not boring as Oscar nominating piece of garbage
Wow, so much negativity in these comments! Hugo is a masterpiece that was badly marketed by the studio. It is an entirely different thing than Tintin, which looks like a lot of fun. If you love cinema and you have the disposable dough, see both. At least they’re not sequels or remakes.
“because HUGO was made today! it’s not TAXI DRIVER, RAGING BULL, or GOODFELLAS.”
that’s always the reason why a “present” scorsese film, or present films in general don’t get the love from these so called “film experts”. they’re over educated and feels like nothing can beat the past. heck people bash The Departed alot. i’m telling you 10 to 20 years from now HUGO, SHUTTER ISLAND, and THE DEPARTED will be celebrated by the general film lovers while they dismiss their current films.
it’s official! Matt Goldberg hates movies. this is popcorn fun! the same way Ghost Protocol is popcorn fun! Movies are different. If you compare MI3 to MI4 in a sense of “viewer emotional connection”, MI3 stumps on MI4 because of Ethan Hunts love story. but set pieces in MI4 stumps MI3.
movies are different Matt! oh well, what’s the use of complaining when the guy won’t change and just completely hate movies over and over again. this movie is for dumb people eh?
Please say ‘trumps’. You sound like a f*ckin’ idiot when you say ‘stumps’.
i’m sure everyone in Collider loved TINTIN. except for Matt who wants character development in a pure escapism popcorn flick. oh and Raiders is always the best huh? because it was made in the effin 80s and is the golden age of Spielberg.
BULLS***! can’t new movies be great? i’m sure everyone in the 80s are saying Spielberg films have nothing against Demille pictures, or John Ford.
Tintin is not really american, and not created by americans, maybe thats whats really bothering some people like Matt….(If it was something totally american i would bet you’d all would have loved it..)
we people in europe loved the movie and it’s praised for its technique…
I loved the books, cause they’re a childhood memory and because the stories are actually quite exciting…They do resemble Indiana Jones in some way. It’s clear to me that the people who hated this movie don’t even have a slight idea who Tintin is, what his stories are about, and how is character is supposed to be. A ranking of a C is absolutely not deserved, cause it is actually on of the best movies of 2011.
I agree with some of what Matt said, the tempo of the film doesn’t leave time to know the caracters much….for those who don’t know them already. Matt spoke for a vast majority of americans that don’t know Tintin so I understand that point of view. On the other hand, the film is greatly enjoyable despite that, just not as much. “C” rate is a bit low, i’d go with “B-”…
It INSISTS upon itself, Lois. It INSISTS upon itself.
Here’s the problem with Tintin. It’s European and it’s just not that great. It’s going to do a bang up job in the European box office because this is a European made character, and more Europeans know who Tintin is than Americans do. The graphic novels are available over here, but the most exposure Americans had to Tintin was probably the cartoon that was on HBO.
c ..!!!!!!!!!
what about It’s European or American ??? fron when the movies are classified like that ???? tintin great mooovie in every thing even 3d was fantastic !!! its should get at least b+ and for me its a- at least !!!
you peaple are insane !!!!!!!!
Why do you guys let Matt review all the amazing movies. He’s so freaking narrow minded.
its not that good but its ok. I dont know what fuss Matt is making about the movie but its pretty good.
I loved Tintin. It is one of my favorite movies. With the negative reviews, I thought it would be boring, but everything about it was great.
I can’t wait for Tintin 2.