Friday 30 December 2011

Film Review: "The Adventures of Tintin" (2011)




The film’s tagline reads "This year, discover how far adventure will take you", which is exactly what The Adventures of Tintin does spectacularly. This 3D performance capture film based on The Adventures of Tintin, a series of comic books created by Belgian artist Hergé (Georges Remi). Directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by Peter Jackson, and adapted by Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish, the film is based on three of the original comic books: The Crab with the Golden Claws (1941), The Secret of the Unicorn (1943), and Red Rackham's Treasure (1944). Intrepid reporter Tintin and Captain Haddock set off on a treasure hunt against Sakharine for a sunken ship commanded by Haddock's ancestor – The Unicorn.

The history of the movie's entire process began when Spielberg had been an avid fan of The Adventures of Tintin comic books, which he discovered in 1981 when a French critic compared Raiders of the Lost Ark to Tintin and claimed that the character of Indiana Jones was a direct descendant of Tintin. But there was one small thing: Spielberg never heard of Tintin. He asked his secretary to buy him the French-language editions of each book, but Spielberg did not have to understand them: he immediately fell in love with its art and learned basic French in high school. Meanwhile, the comics' creator Hergé, who didn't like the previous live action film versions and the cartoon, became a fan of Spielberg. So he sold the rights to Spielberg in 1983, Hergé died soon after. Spielberg felt that the best and only way to preserve and honor Hergé's Spirit was film the movie in the new performance capture technology developed by James Cameron and Weta Studios (Jackson's company). He then partnered with Jackson (another Tintin fan) and hired Edgar Wright and Steven Moffat to write the script and secured a deal with Paramount and Sony.

The film stars Jamie Bell as Tintin, Andy Serkis as Captain Haddock, Daniel Craig as Sakjarine and Nick Frost and Simon Pegg as Thomson and Thompson. The cast gave spectacular performances. Bell's performance was so reminiscent to Harrison Ford's Indiana Jones, Bell also represented the classic Spielberg heroes such as the energy of John Anderton in Minority Report (2003), the tenacity of Carl Hanratty in Catch Me If You Can (2002), the youthful curiosity of David Swinton in A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001) and the nowhere-boy qualities of Elliot Taylor in E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial (1982). Serkis gave a outstanding performance, no wonder he is the king of motion capture. Serkis is a multi-faceted character actor who can play any role he is given. Craig gave a wicked performance and was marvelous as the film’s antagonist, which is his first. Lastly, Frost and Pegg gave their best comedic performances yet as the comedic detective duos. Ranging from Chaplin to Peter Sellers’ Clouseau, they are undeniably the top comedy duo of all time.

The Adventures of Tintin is one of the most deliriously funny, ingenious and stylish American adventure movies ever made. It is the ultimate Saturday action matinee–a film so funny and exciting it can be enjoyed any day of the week.

Simon says The Adventures of Tintin receives:


No comments:

Post a Comment