The film is really good, to my surprise. Probably closer to Raiders in spirit than the last Indiana Jones outing itself. In fact there are so many nods to that classic film in there. It's been a while since Spielberg delievered such an energetic and effortlessly fun adventure. It has to be said though: this is NOT a movie with grander than life narrative of apocalyptic proportions. It fact it seems like matinee serials in that respect. You know, a new adventure every week. This is also a kid's film, lighthearted and old-fashioned. And no, not in a Hook sense. The audience seemed to have a lot of fun as they laughed a lot. The performances in the film a very good all around. Jamie Bell and Andy Serkis give their characters a lot of heart. Daniel Craig gets a little less to do. It's easy to forget that's him in the part.
I thought the animation looked really nice. I was impressed with the artificial lighting, which give the film a very retro, alightly noir-ish vibe (think Ratatouille). You can tell it's been made with 3D in mind as many shots are designed to show off the technology (camera movement and busy background stuff). Spielberg had fun with this one, clearly. Inventing dynamic shots and being practically limitless I watched it in 2D though and it looks good as well. The only thing that bothers me about these things is that the eyes of the characters still feel disturbingly "dead" to me. Don't get me wrong, it's not Beowulf again, but I there is still about CG animation that I find off-putting. This is minor issue though.
There are not as many action scenes as one might think and it starts rather slow. But when it gets going - it delivers. Ironically, some of these sequences recall the infamous Kingdom of the Crystal Skull jungle chase. I'm referring mostly to the scene in which the protagonists chase after the birds towards the end of the picture. What makes the difference is the fact here this kind of crazy action sequence makes sense, whereas in the previous Spielberg film it did not. After all this is "a cartoon" and all that stuff is allowed. This might be one of the frenetic scenes Spielberg has ever created. And yet it works! Another fine setpiece is the swashbuckling Unicorn flashback, a crucial scene in which we learn a lot about the central "McGuffin".
The pacing of the film is very good. It's the briefest film in Spielberg's repertoire and yet, with all of the stuff in it, it never really feels rushed. At least, not terribly. Even if the film quickly jumps from one thing to the next, it starts to make some sense as the plot progresses. Believe me, there is quite a bit to cover in these 100 minutes. From the pickpocketing thief, through Haddock's background to the smaller stuff like the brief appearance of Bianca Castafiore. And, like in Raiders, none of it seems forced. That's the kind of thing Spielberg used to do best and and seemed to be embarassed with in the past 20 years. He manages to avoid two things that usually go wrong in his works: ruining the third act and his trademark sentimentality.
The music. All of the essential music is on the album. The score, not surprisingly, is a big part of what makes the movie so endearing. No, there is no big statement of Tintin's theme in it. In fact, I would say it's the Unicorn's theme that's driving the movie. And while I wouldn't say it is exactly the loudest mix, it certainly better showcases music than the likes of Prisoner of Azkaban, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull or Star Wars prequels. The music is there and, for the most part, you can hear it. The film feels so much more classier and old school because of it. All the nods to the old Williams help to sell it (like the big crescendo at 5:38 into track 9 on the album). The Adventure Continues is the OST's The Adventures of Mutt, basically. It is the concert arrangement of the theme that appears in one scene of the film. Picking Pockets is the first cue of the film and a French-like accordion source cue. The title sequence (as presented on track 1) harkens back to Catch Me If You Can title sequence (both musically and visually) and segues directly into that cue so they kind of feel like one thing. In other words: it's not a huge loss, album-wise.
I had a fun time, probably moreso than from watching any other blockbuster film this year. Better even than Deathly Hallows and Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, the only other two films of this kind I liked. The secret of the film is that it doesn't have to be huge to entertain. In fact it feels much smaller scope-wise than most films (like Pixar's Up). It doesn't try to hammer it over your head with its self-importance, as many things do these days. It's great to see a character following the adventure, because he choses to do so and not because "he's meant to". In fact that makes Tintin one of the few character these days who actually is a classic protagonist. I liked that.
Hope it does well, because I'd like to see the second one.
Karol
