Tintin On The Move!

A highlight among my many splendid Christmas presents were the first two seasons of The Adventures of Tintin, the animated cartoon adaptation of the classic Herge' comic strip. I quickly ordered and have already received the third and final season.

With the recent film adaptation by Spielberg and Jackson (which I reviewed here) this 1990's cartoon was deemed sufficiently relevant to get a go at the modern American marketplace. I only got hold of the Tintin adventures a few years ago and gave them a read through, so all of this is neatly fresh to me still.

These cartoons adapt the classic stories in two-part segments for the most part and follow through on all the Tintin adventures save for the controversial ones in the Soviet Union and the Congo and the unfinished Alph-Art. Some changes were made for modern sensitivities, but by and large the essence of most of the tales is intact according to reports.

I'm eager to dive in.

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The Adventures Of Tintin!

My only "Black Friday" purchase was a copy of The Adventures of Tintin which I found cheap at Target. I never got around to seeing this in the theater and as it turned out that was a blessing for two reasons.

One reason is that the "camera work", the blend of motion capture they used to "film" this movie and the lush special effects made me somewhat dizzy in places as the spinning point of view was really a coaster ride at times. It's impressive, very impressive in a major action sequence toward the end of the flick,but  it was a tad annoying early on.

The second reason was that my daughters watched this delightful movie with me. It's the first movie all three of us have watched in years, and certainly the last all three of liked. They enjoyed it, found the characters clever and the action sufficient for their tastes.

I do think the story begins a bit coldly, with not enough set up, and after a bit of explanation by me my girls were plugged into the action nicely. But a typical viewer needed a bit more explanation early in the movie to establish the characters of Tintin and Snowy. It's not revealed that he's a reporter for quite a while, so his motivations seem odd at first. Also some of the faces seem a bit too weird at times, the translation from the abstract of the original art to the more realistic not completely successful in places. 

Captain Haddock was a favorite with all of us. The balance between humor and adventure was nicely handled all the way through, with enough deadly moments to make the action sting. The sweep of the story was excellent, growing as the plot unfolded. The range of settings was remarkable, and did not disappoint. The transitions between scenes were often downright brilliant.

All in all a dandy movie. I hear they might do more, and that's something to look forward to. Perhaps my girls and I can enjoy those too eventually.

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