I love Tintin. I have always loved Tintin.
In fact, one of my first posts on this blog was about my immense sadness that Hergé left the last book Tintin & Alph Art incomplete.
I had been following the news of the Tintin film since a couple of years. I even did a silly rant about Jamie Bell being cast as Tintin. I was convinced that he had been miscast, & that Steven Spielberg was going to effectively screw up one of my favorite comic book characters of all time. (I thought the film was going to be a live action one). I also talked about how Captain Haddock might be my favorite Comic Book Character ever!
Sometime early last week I sweet talked my mother into a local multiplex & booked tickets for the first-day-first-show of the film.
About the film itself, it is a performance capture 3D film (it can be seen as a mashup of live action & 3D animation) & is based on three of the original Tintin comic books: The Crab with the Golden Claws (1941), The Secret of the Unicorn (1943), and Red Rackham’s Treasure (1944).
So throughout the film one of the main things I ended up doing was figuring out which part came from what comic & differences between the comics & movies. I loved the references to the comic in the beginning of the film, especially when the caricature artists paints a portrait of Tintin in the original ligne claire style of the comics.
A part of me hated every change from the original but even I have to admit it was mostly to good effect, even though the condensation did result is the loss of some great characters & less character development for the ones that remained.
But I have to realize that comic books & movies are two completely different mediums, & that there is a gap of more than half a century between the original comics & the movie.
Another grouse I have with the film is [MILD SPOILER ALERT] the oh-so-predictable hanging ending. But the hanging ending has more often than not proved to be a powerful plot device, & since Steven Spielberg & Peter Jackson are planning a sequel, it was fitting, I guess.
But these are just little things, & the film itself was pretty wonderful.
I can say that it did justice to the comics by Hergé. It was beautiful, cinematic & a visual treat. Mom & me greatly enjoyed it & I’m definitely looking forward to the sequel. In fact, I just might go see this film again. Have you seen the film? If you have, what are your thoughts & if you haven’t seen it yet do you plan on doing so? Do share in the comments!
Love,
