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Written by Sunil Dhokia A movie that is still to date, the best combination of motion-capture technology and superb storytelling! Note: For more information on how my movie review rating system works, please go the 'Who We Are' page on the website. What's The Movie About? Directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by Peter Jackson no less, The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (2011) is a motion-capture animation adventure movie based on the classic comic book series of the same name. The story follows our protagonist, Tintin (Jamie Bell) a reporter, who comes across the Unicorn model ship at a city market, in which he is immediately fascinated with. Despite some attention from other prospective buyers such as our lead antagonist, Ivan Ivanovitch Sakharine (Daniel Craig), Tintin successfully purchases the model ship. Thereafter, Tintin and his lovable dog, Snowy, discover a parchment scroll located within the Unicorn, which thrusts the two on an adventure involving a sea captain named Captain Archibald Haddock (Andy Serkis), as the characters venture around the world to try and find the treasure of the Unicorn ship, before the evil Sakharine does. Positives Let's start with the positives of the movie, as there's a quite a few: Story Firstly, the story is a brilliantly told adventure with many scenes revealing key plot elements, without the use of exposition heavy dialogue for the most part. For instance, the scene where Tintin visits Marlinspike Hall, after suspecting that Sakharine may have stolen his Unicorn model ship, the story allows its audience to learn vital pieces of information about the Unicorn. Particularly, the inquisitive nature of Tintin never feels out of place in the story (due to his profession), such as when he's asking questions to Sakharine to discover more about the Unicorn ship. As a result, the audience learns more about the plot of the movie in an organic way, whilst never sacrificing the adventure element of the story. The story is also exciting and most definitely harkens back to Spielberg's Indiana Jones movies, with its serial adventure style of storytelling, whilst never taking itself too seriously. For example, the back and forth between Tintin and Captain Haddock during the scene where they are stranded on a boat in the middle of the sea, is both funny with laughs mainly coming from Captain Haddock's drunken behaviour, and efficient in propelling the story forward. Ultimately the story is intriguing, as we are always rooting for our hero Tintin and his pals to solve the mystery of the Unicorn ship. Acting The performances in this movie are excellent across the board, with all of the main actors bringing their A game to the table. Jamie Bell as Tintin brings a boyish and charismatic quality to the character, as his determination to get the bottom of the story, makes us as the audience just as determined to solve the mystery at hand. Andy Serkis as Captain Haddock is appropriately outlandish in his portrayal of the character. Serkis begins his character arc as a drunkard aboard the SS Karaboudjan ship, but as the story evolves, he begins to show other shades and qualities to his character, allowing Haddock to become a fully three dimensional character within the story. Finally, Daniel Craig as Sakharine brings a layer of wit and charm to the character, following the great tradition of Hollywood movies using British actors in villainous roles (which Daniel Craig himself said about the role, prior to the release of the movie). In this story, he is suitable maniacal and deceitful, though never veering towards mustache twirling, as Craig brilliantly showcases the selfish nature of the character in his attempts to thwart the heroes from solving the mystery. Action The action is suitable fast-paced, always serving the story at hand and brilliantly shot in a way that Spielberg could only achieve in this motion-capture medium. One of my favourite set-pieces in the movie is when Tintin and his dog Snowy are captured on board the Karaboudjan ship (see image above). In particular, when Tintin is being chased by Sakharine's crew, it's excellently shot, with Spielberg expressing himself through the use of low angles, close-ups and wide-shots all in a short amount of time (as a result of this technology), to brilliantly showcase the tension that Tintin, Snowy and Captain Haddock are experiencing on the ship. Soundtrack For the soundtrack, Spielberg turned to his regular collaborator, John Williams, to craft a score that perfectly captures the boisterous and adventurous nature of the story. Thematic material is aplenty in this movie, with 'The Adventures of Tintin' main title theme (see below at bottom of this article) kicking off proceedings during the cartoony opening credits of the picture. Here the theme perfectly captures the suspense and mystery of Tintin's adventures, in a manner that is very playful and fully encompassing of the story that is to come. Character themes are also featured in this movie, such as 'Snowy's Theme' and Captain Haddock's theme. Both of these themes brilliantly convey the unique personality traits and qualities of these respective characters. Snowy's theme conveys the brave nature of his character in aiding Tintin on his adventures, whilst Haddock's theme is appropriately bumbling to represent the drunken state of the character, when we first meet him. This is another soundtrack that avid fans of John Williams, if not already, will have in their collections. Negatives Despite the movie being well paced for the most part, there are a few moments where the story takes mini pit-stops. In particular, the scene where Tintin and his chums are found by soldiers in the middle of a desert, before being taken back to a military fort in Morocco. It's here, where the characters both figuratively and literally take a pit-stop from the non-stop adventure of the story, to establish more of Captain Haddock's backstory in relation to the wider plot at hand. Though there are small mishaps in the pacing of the story, they ultimately do not detract from the overall enjoyment of the adventure we go on with these characters. Is The Motion-Capture Animation Any Good? The movie is a definite improvement in the motion-capture animation medium over previous movies that have utilised this technology. A quick lesson on mo-cap technology for those unaware, it's the process where filmmakers record the movements and performances of its actors, either on a sound-stage or on location, through motion-sensing tracking suits and then translate this information onto digitally animated character models. In the case of this movie, every facial expression, detail and texture is fully realised within this animated world, but in a way that is unique to the world that Hergé (creator of the Tintin comic books) created way back in the 1920s. For instance, the close-ups of key characters such as Tintin and Captain Haddock, particularly when they first meet each other on board the Karaboudjan ship, beautifully blur the line between animation and live action. Summary With top-notch animation, an exciting and compelling adventure story and some brilliant performances from its lead actors, The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn is an adventure you won't want to miss. Verdict On The Movie 8 out of 10 Your Thoughts What are you thoughts on The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn? Do you think the movie holds up well today in the adventure genre? Comment below, as I would love to hear your thoughts on the movie. All images above and its copyright belong to Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Releasing and any other respective owners. All YouTube content below belongs to their respective owners. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.
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About MeMy name is Sunil Dhokia, I'm a movie fanatic and love all things Hollywood. Blog Archives
June 2020
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