Movie Review: The Adventures of Tintin (2011)

Although I knew what Tintin was when I was a child, I never really got to watch the cartoon, nor have I read the comics. So the story presented in movie The Adventures of Tintin was as new to me as a story can get. With that said, let’s see how kind modern computer animation is to a children’s classic.

Jamie Bell voices Tintin, a legendary journalist whose methods of pursuing a story could put Geraldo Rivera’s to shame. His next story comes when he purchases a model of ship called The Unicorn and finds out that the model holds a secret about what happened to a “special cargo” that was on the actual Unicorn. The model ship’s secret leads to a wild adventure that involves the obsessed collector/criminal Ivanovich Sakharine (Daniel Craig), the two nearly identical Interpol officers Thomson and Thompson (Nick Frost and Simon Pegg), and my favorite, the drunk sea captain Archibald Haddok (Andy Serkis), whose ancestor’s story could be vital to finding the secret Tintin and Sakharine are looking for…assuming that Haddock can remember it.

As someone who has seen CGI movies from different studios, Tintin looks amazing. The detailed modeling looks so good, you will think to yourself, “Is this still animated?” The modeling and the motion capture makes all the action shine, including one huge sequence that is done all in one take.

But it’s not just 100% action with Tintin. The movie manages to switch from serious to funny and back to serious. Also, Bell, Serkis, and Craig do their fair share to bring Hergé’s usually 2D characters to life.

The Adventures of Tintin is a great movie that belongs in the ranks with Pixar and Dreamworks. When you get the chance give it a look. You will like what you see.