Pietro's Movie Review: THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN

Although the screenplay was lacking from the last half onward and some of the dialogue could have used refinement, Tintin is the beginning of a wonderful adventure franchise and definitely one of the must see movies of the year.

I came into this film with moderate expectations even though I've been a long time fan of the property's rich history of comics and cartoons. After all, there's only so much a filmmaker can do with performance capture technology even when you are Steven Spielberg and have Peter Jackson's WETA Workshop at your disposal. But it was the masterful use of this animation technique along with flawless, physical portrayals by the actors involved that made this film so enjoyable. Unfortunately what it achieved in visual flair it failed to deliver in plot, leaving me to wonder how a film with so much thought put into the former could be so severely lacking in the later.

Opening with a very unique title sequence that both pays homage to the comic's origins and offers simple yet fantastic depth, you realize immediately that Tintin will draw you into it's world even more so than many of the years live-action films. As far as animation goes, Tintin is the often pursued, always (until now) out of reach holy grail of motion capture work. After seeing this film twice I have yet to find any aesthetic flaws; it's beautiful from beginning to end. One sequence in particular, taking place in the Moroccan marketplace, I consider to be the best action scene of any film this year.

Jaime Bell as ambiguously aged Tintin and Andy Serkis as the ever-drunk Captain Haddock play off of each others' performances very well; Serkis proving once again he is as comfortable being animated as in real film. Aside from the fast paced banter, though, there isn't much depth to their conversations or their quest to reunite Haddock with his long lost family treasure. However it was Daniel Craig's turn as the film's villain that really wowed me. Although some of the dialogue needed a bit more polishing -- I'm still unsure if adults or children are the target audience for this film -- what irked me most is that the story appears to fizzle out during the second half. While the first 40 minutes or so had me laughing and cheering, the rest left me unsatisfied. The filmmakers didn't really seem to have an ending for the story and, even though it's obviously the beginning of a new franchise, I would have rather more loose ends be tied up before the credits rolled.

Regardless, Tintin is pure cinematic fun, an adventure film through-and-through. With Peter Jackson at the helm of the next installment I can't wait to see how they attempt to top near the perfect animation presented to us here. Hopefully they can lock in a substantial storyline as well.