The Adventures of Tintin

The boyish dream of Spielberg, who is only brought down by unnecessary megalomania, which sometimes kills space for subtle finesse. But other than that, I've been riding this wave from the beginning like a little bastard. The Adventures of Tintin is a beautifully simple, joyful and straightforward film about which there is no point in discussing anything at all. Steven created something that once held me breathless for hours and hours while reading adventure novels. A beautiful film. (2011-10-26)

A technically perfect flick with a lot of visual ideas, but its inwardly impersonal and not funny at all. Did any of the characters work their way into your heart? Did Thomson and Thompson make you laugh? I suspect that this whole thing is just the first of the trailers for a future tourist attraction at Universal Studios. The BRILLIANT action scene in Morocco (which is the only highlight of the film apart from the opera scene) seems to indicate as much. (2011-11-06)

Although the cleverest character of the movie is a dog, any simplicity is replaced by Spielberg’s playfulness and talent for this particular genre. State of the art technology (Zemickis’ innovation gets a good slap in the face when Spielberg manages in one movie to do what he worked on for years) is a blessing mainly in the action scenes, which are lively, full of ideas, humorous and perfect. The ending has superb gradation, including the grandiose clash of the two main antagonists on the crane. Beautiful work. (2012-02-24)

I wasn’t looking forward to Tintin, so I can’t say I’m disappointed with the results. Actually, watching it in cinema on a very hectic day felt quite good. It’s nice to look at, undemanding, relaxing, entertaining… The humour is often almost cringe-worthy, but it’s effective in its own way. The animation was surprising, if the characters hadn’t been so clearly stylised, in some scenes I wouldn’t have been able to tell I’m not looking at something real (for instance, the first minutes at the marketplace). It’s not something to swoon over, but it’s OK for single-use fun. PS: Yesterday on TV I watched several scenes of the fourth Indiana Jones and I realised that in the last few years Spielberg has lost his sense of measure. I don’t like that kind of relentless action anymore. (2011-11-20)

Tinindytin. Not many of this type of movie is made anymore/yet. “Yet" applies to a playful, ingenious, adventurous watch that sparks children’s enthusiasm; you know, that timeless Spielberg-Jones-esque dime-press entertainment. And “yet" applies to a picture where the special effects are there more than just to dazzle, but are for the good of the movie in all (creators’ and viewers’) respects. But this applies to the possibilities of non-static camera than about the excellently done 3D. The one, but absolutely fundamental hitch was the lackluster hero. Which was a problem already in the books, but here it is all the more obvious and Tintin ends up overshadowed by the Haddock/Snowy duo. OST score: 3/5 (2011-10-26)