If I hadn’t known, going in, that The Adventures of Tintin had been adapted from three volumes of the Herge´ series of graphic novels, I might have suspected it from the constant action.
When boy reporter Tintin [voiced and motion captured by Jamie Bell] buys a model of the Unicorn [three masts, fifty guns] from a street vendor for a pound, it sets in motion a tale of derring-do by land, by air and by sea. Almost as soon as he’s paid for the model, Tintin is offered a rapidly escalating for it by Ivanovich Sakharine [Daniel Craig].
At home, an accident leaves the model broken and we see something fall under the bureau it sits upon. Tintin goes out and when he returns, the apartment is a shambles. Such interest in the model arouses Tintin’s journalistic instincts – though, truth to tell, Sakharine’s efforts to acquire it should have rung some kind of alarm bells.
Tintin’s investigations lead him to the drunken Captain Haddock [Andy Serkis] and a tale of adventure on the high seas.
I have no idea if The Adventures of Tintin actually captures the flavor of the books, but if so, then Tintin is one of the thicker heroes in graphic novel history – though he’s brilliant compared with Inspectors Thompson and Thomson [Simon Pegg and Nick Frost respectively], a couple of detectives who are so thick that their quarry – a pickpocket – has to confess just to get them to shut up.
There’s also a singer who shatters bulletproof glass by hitting an E above High C, just round out the unlikely aggregate of characters [to be fair, that’s one of the film’s cleverest bits].
Considering how much director Steven Spielberg and producer Peter Jackson love the books – and given their incredible popularity everywhere in the world except North America – I have to say that I was disappointed. There’s so much action that The Adventures of Tintin could compete with Raiders of the Lost Ark for thrills [really, check out the fencing duel with cranes!] – if only we had characters that had character.
Tintin is a boy reporter. That is his character. That’s it. Captain Haddock is a drunken freighter captain. That’s his character. That’s it. There’s a history that ties Haddock and Sakharine together, but it’s their ancestors who feel more real.
On the other hand, the animation is dazzling – many of the sequences [especially in the desert and at sea – are breathtaking. The humor ranges from sophisticated to slapstick and, for the most part, works.
Frankly, the smartest, most relatable character in the film is Tintin’s dog, Snowy. He’s smart enough to know when to be scared and when to hang back – something we can’t say about his master. And he’s resourceful.
In the end, The Adventures of Tintin is a triumph of style over substance. I enjoyed it, but it left me feeling like I’d missed something – or rather, Spielberg and Jackson had missed something. Beneath the action and the humor, there’s not much heart – but with all the action and suspense, who has the time?.
Final Grade: B-