I’m not the sort of person to use strong language but crickey, that was bloomin’ marvellous. After all the build up, I was so pleased that what I was looking for for so long came together in such a fantastic way.
Always the most important for me was the ‘Tintin’ factor being preserved from the books. Aside from the usual concessions that have to be made when making the transfer to film, the look, feel and style were all still there. The distinctive colours, imagery and characters were all the same but more, real. There was a beautiful nod to the artist behind the Tintin stories, Hergé, at the beginning as Tintin had his caricature drawn by his creator.
As for the plot of the film, I was a little disappointed. I knew the plot of ‘The Secret of the Unicorn’ already and was expecting it to mainly follow that. It instead added in a lot from the books preceding and succeeding it in the series but it was done so well and added so much to the film, it was well worth it. The exhilarating chase through the town centre and the mixing between the past story and the present would not exist if the plot had not been played around with.
Almost as important to me as it being a Tintin film was the CG. I was hoping for something that at times would look entirely real and at others would shout the original artwork at me and I was not once disappointed. The likenesses to the books was just right and the recent advances in 3D Graphics and rendering technology meant that every optical effect from the refraction of a magnifying glass to the physics that made everything interact with each other was spotless. It was clear to see that the CG was used to its full extent, giving way to dozens of shots simply not possible with conventional filming techniques.
3D is in my eyes, still a bit of a gimmick. I’m sure that it will be adopted to films like surround sound in time and it’s worth the extra money. I just wishes that it could add something more to the film than the occasional shot that makes you forget that you’re in a dark room in a shopping complex in Thanet. Still, 3D films are still progressing and it was certainly better than some attempts that have done nothing except hurt my eyes.
Well what else can I say? The cast are fantastic, the music is up to the best of John Williams and the title sequence is quite reminisce and almost as good as that of Catch Me If You Can. It was great to see little hints of the other Tintin adventures hidden throughout the film which I’ll leave you to find for yourself. Thank you Spielberg, Hergé was right to ask you to make this film. I cannot wait for the next one and whenever it comes out to buy.
