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THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN
Mon 7 Nov 2011

At 3am on Thursday night I finished The Rainbow Orchid volume 3 (not counting the necessary publisher's to-ing and fro-ing that is to come over the next week or so). This left me with a Friday in which I could take things a bit more easily before I dived into my next job (deadline: end of November) and a rare opportunity to go to the cinema with my brother, Murray. There was only one film to see, of course ... Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin!

A recent Guardian article takes the position that long-time Tintin fans hate the film, think it is an atrocity, even, while those who know little or nothing of the character have loved it. Being a long-time Tintin fan myself ("and not just one who wears some wearisome t-shirt", as I was once described in a mid-nineties comics fanzine!) I have to say that I greatly enjoyed the film, and I know other serious Tintin fans who also confound the Guardian's view (the newspaper has been singular in publishing a barrage of negative Tintin film reviews - it's practically an editorial stance!).

So, is the film a slap in the face of Hergé, Tintin's creator? I can't see that it is. The film oozes love for this Belgian phenomenon and is very far from being some kind of cash-in. It has an atmosphere of authenticity that carries the story confidently through the changes that must inevitably come with any book-to-film adaptation.

First and foremost there is the question of the animation - Hergé's trademark ligne claire style has not been re-rendered and projected on to the screen. Instead we have CGI motion capture, where actors play out the action in a green-screened room wearing fetching skin-tight lycra suits. I think CGI has worked great for films such as Toy Story and Monsters Inc., where human beings play a minor role and the threat of the 'uncanny valley' is less intrusive, but it is often too distracting to be successful where actual people need to be depicted - why not just use people?

I have to say I was impressed with the CGI on Tintin - it's the best I've yet seen and it created a world in which I felt comfortably immersed. It isn't perfect by any means - there is still that odd weightlessness to the characters (though not so often) and sometimes I found myself marvelling at the detail on a character's close-up when I should have been listening to what they were saying, but that's a minor criticism. The characters felt familiar right away, whereas with live actors we'd have had to get over the shock of strangers, maybe even impostors, in the roles. Only Castafiore unbalanced me slightly; she looked like the plastic surgeons had been stretching away any wrinkles for a few years, though, actually, that may fit with her character. For me, it worked well enough - I even found the technical wizardry an enjoyable element on top of everything else.

What about the story? Spielberg and his writers have departed from a frame-by-frame adaptation and have instead conflated two war books, The Crab With The Golden Claws (1941) and The Secret of the Unicorn (1943), plus a chunk of original material. Is this heresy? No, in fact I think it's probably necessary. A comic is not a film and a film is not a comic (despite what some people may think) and a film could never reproduce the intimacy that exists between the reader and a page of bande dessinée. A film director does almost everything for the viewer, who becomes a largely uninvolved witness to events on the screen; voices, unknown or too well-known, are prescribed; music tells you what and when to feel, and you are taken through the story at twenty-four frames per second with no steering wheel of your own. This is not at all a bad thing, indeed, it can be highly enjoyable, but it is a different experience from reading Hergé, where the voices of Tintin and Haddock are called from within, from a reality that is all your own, where your emotions are left to react quite naturally to events and, though the author will guide and nudge, you are given the reigns to traverse the story as you please.

Because the mediums are so different it would be foolish, I think, to expect the experience of the albums to be replicated through the camera. We have the books, they are brilliant and will not be interfered with, and there can be little doubt that more people will be led to them after seeing the film. The film is good but it is not as good as Hergé's originals - his plots have time to breathe and develop and, more specifically, The Secret of the Unicorn and its sequel, Red Rackham's Treasure, benefit from a careful logic that is ultimately far more satisfying.


Artwork © Editions Casterman; Tintin © Hergé/Moulinsart.

As a thing apart, the film works very nicely. The opening is a joy and you feel as though you have entered a world that honestly mirrors the books. It really picks up once Tintin is aboard the Karaboudjan and doesn't let up for a good while. One new scene, where Sakharine (elevated to the role of major antagonist) employs an unwitting Castafiore and a hawk to obtain the third model Unicorn, I really enjoyed, and the ensuing chase scene is fun, if rather ridiculous.

On the less-positive side, I did feel as though things fell slightly flat once everyone was back at port, with the police awaiting Sakharine and the strangely unexciting crane-fight that followed. And if you know the books, you can't help but feel the loss of the scenes with Tintin exploring the wreck of the Unicorn in the shark submarine and the island where the Haddock idol is discovered - wonderful stuff (from Red Rackham's Treasure, a book that supplies only its ending for the film). I also didn't quite feel the Thom(p)sons lived up to themselves, though they were amusing enough (edit: Gremkoska on Twitter reminded me of Snowy - I'd like to add that I thought Snowy looked a little weird, and didn't really work for me either). To balance that out, however, Allan is really well portrayed (well-rendered, you might say!).

All in all, the Tintin film is a very good thing, highly enjoyable, made with heart, and it's positive for both the Tintin books and, hopefully, comics in general. The one aspect I do dislike is the cheaper end of the merchandising, especially with things like the McDonalds tie-in. There's a lot of speculation as to whether Hergé would approve of Spielberg's adaptation (no one can know, my feeling is that he'd love it) but where Happy Meals are concerned I suspect his reaction may well be similar to the wild disapproval he exhibited when told that Tintin's face had been licensed to grace the inside of a child's potty - though that time, luckily, it turned out to be a joke played by studio colleagues!

Do go and see the film if you can. Enjoy it for what it is and come back, perhaps, with a deeper appreciation for those wonderful books.

posted 07.11.11 at 9:29 pm in Film | permalink |

Comments:

Robin, on Monday 7 November 2011 at 9:58 pm, says:
The guy with the big hooter in your second photo - is that Allan, the treacherous first mate?

Linda, on Monday 7 November 2011 at 10:33 pm, says:
Thanks for your detail thoughts on Tintin, Garen. Very good read. Look forward to seeing it when it arrives. Only question I have, was this version you both saw in 3-D? (I have been confused in the adverting, if all the showings are 3-D, or split with the option of 3-D or 2-D, as many films have been at my theatre.) AND Congratulations on finishing Rainbow Orchid #3! REALLY looking forward to seeing it next year!

Garen, on Monday 7 November 2011 at 11:07 pm, says:
Robin - yes, indeed - that's Allan. I think he was just called 'Mr. Mate' in The Crab with the Golden Claws.

Garen, on Monday 7 November 2011 at 11:12 pm, says:
I saw it in 2D, Linda - mainly because that version was showing at a more convenient time. I don't mind 3D, but I did want to focus on enjoying the story and the film rather than any effects in addition to the CGI.

Linda, on Tuesday 8 November 2011 at 12:49 am, says:
Thanks, Garen. Very glad to hear it is in 2-D. I feel the same about that. (Sometimes they don't give a choice here, though, so see whatever comes.)

Dave Shelton, on Tuesday 8 November 2011 at 8:58 am, says:
Pretty much exactly agree. I went in with low expectations, suspicions about the choice to do it in motion capture, resentment that it was only available in 3D where we saw it ... and mostly loved it (with mostly similar reservations to your own - Snowy was odd). Made with care and capturing enough of the spirit of the books to be respectful but not so beholden to them as to make the translation to another medium pointless. And that flashback to Francis Haddock vs Red Rackham - well, that was a bit exciting wasn't it? Blimey! You didn't miss anything with the 3D though. It was largely unintrusive at least, but it didn't really add anything either.

Garen, on Tuesday 8 November 2011 at 10:00 am, says:
Thanks for your comments, Dave. There was one moment in the film where Sakharine pointed his cane out towards the audience (of about 6, I saw it at 10.30 in the morning!) and I thought 'ah, that's for 3D viewers' - ha ha! And yes, I think I got totally lost in that sea battle.

wim, on Tuesday 8 November 2011 at 10:05 am, says:
I saw the film in 3D, and in my opinion it's one of the very first I've seen that was intended as a 3D film. You really feel immersed in the action, as opposed to have it nauseatingly thrust at you.

Garen, on Tuesday 8 November 2011 at 10:11 am, says:
That's interesting, Wim. I did consider if it was worth a revisit to experience the 3D version. I haven't seen a film twice at the cinema since Jurassic Park, and before that probably The Empire Strikes Back.

Murray, on Tuesday 8 November 2011 at 6:05 pm, says:
I agree with most of what you've said, Garen, though I was quite happy with Snowy. The one niggle that lingered with me after the film, though, was about the chase following on from Castafiore's singing, where Tintin, by riding his motorbike through people's homes and places of work in the city below seemed to destroy a fair few of them, even though they presumably belonged to innocent bystanders! This didn't seem to fit in with his character, though at the time I was just carried along by the excitement of the chase. Oh, and the sore thumb of Haddock's pep talk to the momentarily down Tintin after that seemed a bit message-y, and fit neither of their characters. Otherwise a thoroughly enjoyable film, and certainly worth a rewatch, perhaps on TV where you can pause it and look at the in-jokes in the backgrounds (all the objects in Tintin's study, for instance).

Garen, on Tuesday 8 November 2011 at 6:59 pm, says:
That's a good point about all the houses in Bagghar. I was also caught up with the chase - it was very silly but kept providing you with new silliness to distract you from thinking about it too much - though I was rather perplexed by the tank and hotel front which seemed to come from nowhere. And I agree about the pep-talk, it seemed to be there purely so Tintin could get an idea of how to continue from one of Haddock's lines - a bit forced. None of this takes away from the overall enjoyment, and I'm sure I'm holding Tintin to a higher standard that most films I'd watch.

Derry24, on Saturday 12 November 2011 at 4:25 pm, says:
I wasn't going to see the TinTin film, but after reading that review I'm gonna give it a go. Apart from that the bit where you talk about the differences between a film and a comic is one of the best things Ive read about comics in past year. Nice one :-)

Nick, on Saturday 12 November 2011 at 5:13 pm, says:
I saw the film as soon as I could and had very much the same reaction as you Garen, also being a life long Tintin fan, and it was great to have some new Tintin after all these years! I suspect we'll see Calculus and the shark submarine in the next instalment: the end of the film suggested they would be going on a treasure hunt as only a hatful had been found in Marlinspike. I suspect the next film will be a combination of Red Rackham's Treasure and maybe a South American adventure (close to where the treasure is found). Snowy did look a little weird, but he had a great part - someone described him as 'the star of the show'. I left the film wanting more - much more, and look forward to the sequel!

Garen, on Saturday 12 November 2011 at 9:09 pm, says:
Thanks very much, Derry, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Garen, on Saturday 12 November 2011 at 9:14 pm, says:
Thanks for your comment, Nick - glad you liked it too. I do wonder if the next film will continue from this first one so closely. I thought it was more of an open ending, just to say that their adventures together continue, and next we'll see The Seven Crystal Balls or something entirely different (though you're right, they will have to introduce Calculus somehow, and that was the shark sub...). We'll see! Hey, great website for The Green Man. by the way :-)

Nick, on Sunday 13 November 2011 at 5:53 pm, says:
The Seven Crystal Balls has strong South American ties, so I'm thinking they could meld them together somehow. I'm glad you like the website :)

ojamajomary, on Wednesday 16 November 2011 at 1:18 pm, says:
Hum, on that moment (still haven't been shown yet on HK), the only one thing that I cannot stand on is Tintin's blue eyes. Is he black eyes, right? However the trailer is exciting and I feeling my blood was boiling!

bonbon, on Thursday 24 November 2011 at 6:37 am, says:
I haven't yet seen this film and, as an avid Tintin lover, have been waffling back & forth about whether or not to...however, your review has persuaded my more 'let's give it a go' side, so, I will definitely go see it! allez-y as tintin might say!

Garen, on Friday 25 November 2011 at 1:04 am, says:
Definitely give it a go, bonbon - it won't do anything good or bad to the enduring fantasticness of the books, and it's a decent cinema rollick! :-)

Linda, on Sunday 22 January 2012 at 11:52 pm, says:
Really enjoy Tintin (2D) around Christmas, and glad to see it still showing at the local theatres, a month after it released here. So packed with detail, can't wait to watch on the DVD at home. But always going to love the books, the best. (Reading about second Tintin is being planned now.)

ojamajomary, on Tuesday 25 June 2013 at 2:49 am, says:
Herge was on the start of the film (not the intro): An artist helps Tintin to draw a self-portrait, and that person is "Herge". Later, is the famous scene of Comic VS Movie version look of Tintin! http://tintin.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Herg%C3%A9_cameo_appearances

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