From a kinetic title sequence to a final shot baiting for a
sequel, The Adventures of Tintin
never stops to take a breath. Racing from setpiece to setpiece, Tintin leaves not a single scene without
at least a punch (if not a full-blown explosion). The wall-to-wall action should by
rights be exhausting, but adventure is no foreign terrain for Steven Spielberg.
Under his practiced direction, Tintin
pulls us easily into its energetic pace, catching us up in an adventure story
that feels familiar but is no less exciting in the telling.
Introduced via a gag that passes the baton from Tintin creator Hergé to Spielberg and
co., Tintin (Jamie Bell) and his faithful dog Snowy find themselves
caught up in a high-stakes chase around the globe after discovering a hidden secret
in a model of the lost ship The Unicorn.
Bell plays the famous comics creation with a bright, can-do verve, dashing
without fear from rooftops and windows in certainty that good will win
out. Until it does, though, the
adventuring pair is pursued by the sinister Ivan Sakharine (Daniel Craig,
enjoying himself in an unusually villainous role), a hunt that quickly extends
itself from land to sea, where Tintin meets the drunken but good-hearted Captain
Haddock (Andy Serkis). Together, Tintin, Snowy, and Haddock struggle to unlock
the mystery of The Unicorn before
Sakharine can claim whatever treasure it holds or take them out in the process.
The Tintin comics
always had a surreal humor to them, an element not lost in this adaptation. Every
action scene pops along with a smoothness and grace that still make room for
plenty of visual gags, a task aided by Spielberg’s new motion-capture toolset.
Although sometimes pushing the film uncomfortably toward the Uncanny
Valley (usually during close-ups that give us time to study the bizarre
proportions of Tintin’s face), the motion capture is ultimately a boon to
Spielberg’s work here, allowing him to create fantastic setpieces impossible in
live action. One of the film’s most thrilling scenes is a sustained single-shot
chase sequence through Morocco, and Tintin
is at its best as it glides us through deserts, streets, and canals, gleefully
following after the intrepid young journalist and his canine pal as they chase
down an adventure.
