The Adventures of Tintin (C or 2/4 stars)
Wait, I'm giving a Steven Spielberg film a negative review? Say it ain't so!!! 'The Adventures of Tintin' (based on a series of popular French-language comic books) is impressive to look at, but relentless in its action; and that relentlessness made me indifferent for a good part of the running time.
'TAoT' follows the exploits of a child journalist named Tintin (voiced by Jamie Bell) who, accompanied by his faithful fox terrier, Snowy, & the constantly-drunk blowhard Capt. Haddock (Andy Serkis), seeks the locale of the lost treasure of one of Haddock's ship-bearing ancestors. Tintin & Haddock, however, are not the only ones seeking the treasure (of course, or else ther'd be no movie). Also looking for the shipwreck's location is the enigmatic Sakharine (Daniel Craig); who's willing to kill anyone for said treasure. With only 1 clue in Tintin's possession & another in Sakharine's, the race to find the all-important 3rd piece of the puzzle is on; and they figuring out that the 3rd piece is owned by a North African sheik. Chases, kidnappings, fisticuffs, & crazy escapes ensue ... without let-up.
Now, I'm sure there will be audiences who latch onto this film from the get-go and love it 'til the end. There's the cute dog. There's a pureness to the story. It's high-spirited (not to be mistaken for fun). Several of the set pieces make for a whiz-bang thrill ride (i.e., in Morocco). And I find it humorous that when this children's story was written (over 80 yrs. ago), there didn't seem to be anything wrong with having a drunk as one of the leads {haha}. From a technical standpoint, 'TAoT' is top-notch. The visuals are stunning. And it's the best use I've seen yet of motion-capture animation. That said, the story is thin, the action comes furiously, & there's very little in the way of suspense, magic or awe.
I found 'TAoT' to be CLAMORING. Booming, over-the-top, ostentatious, frenetic ... these are words that come to mind. Think Raiders of the Lost Ark but shot like a frenetic video game with absolutely no sense of warmth or heart from the story & characters. When I say frenetic, I mean to say: there's such forward momentum, yet no stops for reflection or appreciation for what you JUST witnessed. Furthermore, while I mentioned that the film exhibits the best example of motion-capture technique yet ... I'm still not a fan of the rubbery-faced human figures. Give me hand drawn animation any day.
I'm also getting a bit tired of films using the excuse of 'anything can happen at any time or any place'. As opened up by CGI animation, Spielberg literally makes anything happen. i.e., landscapes feel hyper-real. Ships burn & capsize, but don't sink. Buildings move with no problem. Villains show up at just the right time at just the right corner when the protagonists are racing through a huge city. The possibilities for what we see are endless ... and I just don't like it. It takes any sense of danger away from what you're seeing. Give me Nemo, give me a Bug's Life, give me Simba. Whatever happened to character, back story, emotional depth and a fresh, straightforward narrative? Whatever happened to imagination!? 'The Adventures of Tintin' is 2 H's too many -- handsome, hectic, hollow.
'TAoT' follows the exploits of a child journalist named Tintin (voiced by Jamie Bell) who, accompanied by his faithful fox terrier, Snowy, & the constantly-drunk blowhard Capt. Haddock (Andy Serkis), seeks the locale of the lost treasure of one of Haddock's ship-bearing ancestors. Tintin & Haddock, however, are not the only ones seeking the treasure (of course, or else ther'd be no movie). Also looking for the shipwreck's location is the enigmatic Sakharine (Daniel Craig); who's willing to kill anyone for said treasure. With only 1 clue in Tintin's possession & another in Sakharine's, the race to find the all-important 3rd piece of the puzzle is on; and they figuring out that the 3rd piece is owned by a North African sheik. Chases, kidnappings, fisticuffs, & crazy escapes ensue ... without let-up.
Now, I'm sure there will be audiences who latch onto this film from the get-go and love it 'til the end. There's the cute dog. There's a pureness to the story. It's high-spirited (not to be mistaken for fun). Several of the set pieces make for a whiz-bang thrill ride (i.e., in Morocco). And I find it humorous that when this children's story was written (over 80 yrs. ago), there didn't seem to be anything wrong with having a drunk as one of the leads {haha}. From a technical standpoint, 'TAoT' is top-notch. The visuals are stunning. And it's the best use I've seen yet of motion-capture animation. That said, the story is thin, the action comes furiously, & there's very little in the way of suspense, magic or awe.
I found 'TAoT' to be CLAMORING. Booming, over-the-top, ostentatious, frenetic ... these are words that come to mind. Think Raiders of the Lost Ark but shot like a frenetic video game with absolutely no sense of warmth or heart from the story & characters. When I say frenetic, I mean to say: there's such forward momentum, yet no stops for reflection or appreciation for what you JUST witnessed. Furthermore, while I mentioned that the film exhibits the best example of motion-capture technique yet ... I'm still not a fan of the rubbery-faced human figures. Give me hand drawn animation any day.
I'm also getting a bit tired of films using the excuse of 'anything can happen at any time or any place'. As opened up by CGI animation, Spielberg literally makes anything happen. i.e., landscapes feel hyper-real. Ships burn & capsize, but don't sink. Buildings move with no problem. Villains show up at just the right time at just the right corner when the protagonists are racing through a huge city. The possibilities for what we see are endless ... and I just don't like it. It takes any sense of danger away from what you're seeing. Give me Nemo, give me a Bug's Life, give me Simba. Whatever happened to character, back story, emotional depth and a fresh, straightforward narrative? Whatever happened to imagination!? 'The Adventures of Tintin' is 2 H's too many -- handsome, hectic, hollow.