The Adventures of Tintin (with the subtitle: the Secret of the Unicorn) is 1st of the possible Tintin movies well be seeing from Steven Spielberg & Peter Jackson. Based on the comic book series of the same name by the Belgian artist Hergé, this said adaptation adapts 3 comic book stories and molds it into 1 movie. Hollywood stars ranging from Daniel Craig to Andy Serkis with Edgar Wright having credit as one of the 3 screenplay writers alongside the movie being completely computer animated by Peter Jacksons WETA Digital, how does this movie stand on Its legs?
Well in a way it succeeds greatly, its a fantastic family movie when you think about it, it has great visuals, stunning voice acting, witty banter between characters and enough action to get all the little children excited, but the problems I also had with this movie should reflect on the younger audience as well, so Ill start what I didnt enjoy about this movie.
1st the main problem this movie has and this is incredibly bad, is that the movie never gives me a reason to connect, cherish or even root for Tintin, hes the main ****ing character of the movie and I have no reason to root for him, hes also awfully established. The opening credits roll out some great animation establishing Tintins adventures and how he has solved tons of mysteries, put down criminal gangs among other heroic feats, but that is simply just referencing the characters past and nothing is established. The movie just makes me assume the man is a great sharpshooter who can take down a plane with a single bullet, learn to fly an airplane thru a storm and practically get lucked out of anything, the guy received so much help and whenever hes in trouble things just somehow work out for him, Its ridiculous.
2nd problem comes sadly in the dialogue, I mentioned the witty banters between characters and its truly delightful chatter to hear as you can see the excitement, the anger, the emotions, just about everything is so well voice acted, but the movie has so much exposition it gets so boring, it really slows down the movie as a whole. It was just utterly boring to hear all the various explanations to this and that, now you might ponder why exactly, well Ill dig into a bit deeper into the plot without trying to spoil too much: The movie is after all called the secrets of the Unicorn, so it has this detective riddle story going for the very 1st hour of the movie, but the very first riddle expositions the 1st twist alongside the movie perfectly making clear the Haddock family legacy and the villain. The last 47 minutes of the movie become this sort of adventure revenge movie between Captain Haddock and the villain, but Ill get more onto Haddock sooner. So ultimately what lies with this movies problems for me is the fact you dont care about Tintin or his pet dog Snowie, nor is the Secret mystery even engaging but rather dull and I cant imagining children even bothering to remember all the explanations, because they will simply remember all the ass-kicking scenes and comedic scenes instead, so yes my 3rd cringe with this movie would be the bland secret that thru the dialogue just slowed down the pace and during the view offering nothing rewarding for paying attention to it.
The 4th problem and this is luckily very minor is the pointless characters that serve no real purpose to the movie outside of the fact this is an comic adaptation and they wished to adapt these characters, but if youre going to adapt minor supporting characters, you have to do it right! Its like adapting Ace the Bat Hound or Leslie Thompkins, in fact Lucius Fox is a very minor Batman supporting character and he was wonderfully incorporated to the movies, but for this movie they put Aristides Silk (a picket pocket thief) who serves no purpose to the plot of the movie, and the comedic Interpol agent duo Thomson & Thompson (voiced by Simon Pegg & Nick Frost) do nothing worth mentioning in the movie outside moving the plot to Its conclusion and few funny scenes but otherwise there was no need for any of these characters, if you wish to adapt characters, make them useful to the story, not fan service!
Now what did I like about this movie? Why the very Han Solo of the movie of course! Andy Serkis as Captain Haddock, the weak shamed man who is nothing more than a blabbering alcoholic goes thru his character arc from zero to hero! By the end of the movie youll see him as a respectable hero and a good man with a golden heart. Serkis rough Scottish accent plays very well with the drunken stereotype and the dialogue banter he has between Tintin that doesnt include exposition is very witty and delightful, granted there is one scene in the movie that is full on exposition, but its done visually as well as Captain retells the story of how the Unicorn sunk to the bottom of the ocean. This naval battle, I promise was even more visually engaging, creative and visually stunning than the final naval battle in Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End had, and that to me was a great accomplishment, but again as I talk about Haddocks family, I utterly wish if the movie was truly more about his family or himself, because Tintin is just a very bland character that remains the same from start to conclusion of the story. Its really the character development and how the whole Unicorn is tied with Haddock that makes him the real star of the movie.
I would however say that the best voice acting performance does actually come from Daniel Craig, who plays Ivan Ivanovitch Sakharine, the main villain of the movie. I couldnt recognize his voice at all, so that to me is a sign of great voice acting, he comes off as very intellectual, charming, powerful and dominant, the visual design enhances the voice acting as the man has the eyes of a killer. Good villain that plays well with Haddocks character arc that ends with a great finale between the two men.
John Williams score for the movie also enhances the movie well, every musical score is just right for the scene, there were no mistakes in the music category, the music adds up the mood for the comedy and excitement to the action and chase sequences, wonderful job as usual from Williams.
The 2nd best moment of the entire movie besides the outstanding naval battle comes in Bagghar, with a very exciting chase sequence and again just like the Naval battle its done so visually perfect! The various camera angles the whole large scale is just this big glorious mess as part of the city gets torn apart due to one vile mans desire, Williams score amps up the excitement perfectly here, this and the naval battle are the scenes kids and myself alike will cherish and remember of this film, if Id would be a memorable movie that is.
In summary this is a family movie, I think the parents get something out of this, they might be intrigued by the secret or they dont have high expectations, just wanting to watch a movie with a protagonist with his puppy and an alcoholic sidekick embark on an Indiana Jones style adventure with great visuals, voice acting and a musical score.
PS. I dont think the 3D is necessary for this movie at all, I dont have any real memorable 3D effects outside of some broken glasses that get sharrered.