The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn (PG) | Close-Up Film DVD Review

Dir. Steven Spielberg, 2011 , USA , 107 mins

Cast: Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Simon Pegg, Daniel Craig

Review by Michelle Moore

Many people heading out to see The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn will remember the days when they read the comic books, or sat back and watched this adorable character and his lovable dog on their television screens. Now, after years of waiting, an English language feature length film is hitting the big screen.

The film is based on comic book series of the same name , created by Belgian artist Hergé (Georges Remi). Its script melds together three stories; The Crab with the Golden Claws , The Secret of the Unicorn , and Red Rackham’s Treasure . It involves Tintin’s ( Bell ) first encounter with Captain Haddock (Serkis) and the search for the treasure of Haddock’s ancestor Sir Francis Haddoque. This performance capture 3D film – a process where the actions of actors have been recorded and then digitally imprinted into animated characters – is so finely detailed you start to believe that you are watching actors rather than animated characters. F rom the ridges of the skin, individual hairs and elements of clothing to the grains of sand and ripples of water everything is immensely realistic. The scenery is remarkable and adds enormously to the action. Some of the fast paced sequences really make your head swirl. At one stage Tintin and Haddock are trying to retrieve some scrolls from a bird. With the 3D technology it is as if the audience are along for the ride, when we whizz around 360 degrees as Tintin flies through the air with Snowy the dog.

The film is also bursting with funny elements, from slapstick falling-down-the-stairs moments to the drunken antics of the two detectives Thompson and Thomson and Haddock. The only worrying aspect of the film is the amount of violence in it. Some violence is necessary for the plot, but there are slayings, gunfire and plenty of punches thrown.

The detailed appearance does make one wonder whether a live action adaptation would have been more fitting than animation. However considering the original Tintin was firstly a comic book character and then an animated boy on the screen, the performance capture technology seems ultimately more appropriate. Casting of the roles is spot on. Bell is perfect as the lead protagonist Tintin, charming yet inquisitive and persistent. while Serkis brings out the humour in Haddock’s character.

The movie ends as expected, with Tintin and Haddock solving the mystery, but it does leave us with an open ending. Will Tintin and Haddock return to solve more clues? If this movie is anything to go by, there is likely to be a new franchisee in the works in the near future.

Available on Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray Triple Play and DVD from 19th March.

Blu-ray 3D & Blu-ray Triple Play

• Toasting Tintin: Part I
• The Journey to Tintin
• The World of Tintin
• The Who’s Who of Tintin
• Designing Tintin
• Tintin: In the Volume
• Snowy: From Beginning to End
• Animating Tintin
• Tintin: The Score
• Collecting Tintin
• Toasting Tintin: Part II

DVD

• Snowy: From Beginning to End
• The Journey to Tintin

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