With any Spielberg movie comes a load of hype. Particularly something that he hasn’t really done before. So does a motion capped, animated Tin Tin live up to the hype? Read on and find out.
I’ve never read a Tin Tin book in my life, nor do I have any intention of doing so. That said, I was aware of the Hergé’s character and the stylising around the cartoon / books etc. But other than that I had no idea who Captain Haddock was etc. So when it comes to the characters, I was lost, but thankfully throughout the course of the movie, through albeit brief introductions, the audience gets a grasp of who’s who relatively quickly. From a story point of view (and this is where a little bit of research comes into this review) the movie is based on three specific entries in the Tin Tin series. Namely The Crab with the Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn, and Red Rackham's Treasure. Loosely the movie follows the tale of our intrepid journalist Tin Tin who gets embroiled in a search for 3 scrolls which yield the way to great treasures and more importantly a sunken ship, laden down with said treasures.Tin Tin discovers this after buying a model ship in a street market. From there it’s a simple case of Tin Tin and Captain Haddock (Jamie Bell and Andy Serkis respectively) taking on the bad guys in a race to find the scrolls, coupled with a few little twists and turns along the way.
You will not see a more beautiful movie this year. The style, attention to detail and all round motion capture here is nothing short of phenomenal. Avatar really set the bar high for motion capture, but Tin Tin clears that bar without breaking a sweat. The tiniest little nuances in the characters leap off the screen, in what at times is absolutely surreal viewing. And that’s not even mentioning their eyes. The eyes tell a million stories and these ones are alive. Alive I tells ya! The action set pieces (while it would have been nice to have a few more) are fantastic. The big chase scene near the end is a sight to behold. It is breath-taking to say the least. Even a scene near the beginning where Tin Tin is dodging between cars (on another chase) is wonderful watching. The characters have immense personality and are incredibly watchable and likeable. Credit where it’s due to its cast, which include Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Daniel Craig. All do a top job of bringing their digital counterparts to life. And while you could make the argument that this is a movie that could have been made without motion capture, when you see the faces and the eyes, those arguments more or less become null and void. Equally so, Tin Tin screams Spielberg. It moves and looks like a Spielberg movie (and then some) and that is testament to what is quite a powerful embracing of relatively new technology.
All those positive things said, at times the story and pacing slow down a little bit and things can linger ever so slightly. While it’s not enough to derail the whole thing, it does get noticeable. Besides that though, it's a hard one to fault. The John Williams score (while a little bit different from his usual style) is very European and at times is almost reminiscent of a certain Fedora wearing explorer.There are some genuinely lovely touches and throwbacks to the original series, in particular the scene where Tin Tin is getting his portrait done. It is quite obvious that an incredible amount of time, effort and immense care has gone into this production, and I guess it wouldn’t be hard considering Spielberg has been sitting on the rights since 1983. The 3D, while effective at times adds little or nothing to the movie. That said it may all depend on where you see it. For a movie that is colourful it should pop right off the screen. Alas, in my screening the blacks looked more like a mid grey and yet again, I had to endure a washed out looking viewing.
Fans of the original will love this and non fans will certainly go and see what all the fuss is about. And while Tin Tin may not be entirely as mainstream as other franchises, this is a movie crafted with incredible loving care and at times is genuinely breath taking. The more I think about it, I really want to go back and see it again. Tin Tin is most definitely Win Win.
I’ve never read a Tin Tin book in my life, nor do I have any intention of doing so. That said, I was aware of the Hergé’s character and the stylising around the cartoon / books etc. But other than that I had no idea who Captain Haddock was etc. So when it comes to the characters, I was lost, but thankfully throughout the course of the movie, through albeit brief introductions, the audience gets a grasp of who’s who relatively quickly. From a story point of view (and this is where a little bit of research comes into this review) the movie is based on three specific entries in the Tin Tin series. Namely The Crab with the Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn, and Red Rackham's Treasure. Loosely the movie follows the tale of our intrepid journalist Tin Tin who gets embroiled in a search for 3 scrolls which yield the way to great treasures and more importantly a sunken ship, laden down with said treasures.Tin Tin discovers this after buying a model ship in a street market. From there it’s a simple case of Tin Tin and Captain Haddock (Jamie Bell and Andy Serkis respectively) taking on the bad guys in a race to find the scrolls, coupled with a few little twists and turns along the way.
You will not see a more beautiful movie this year. The style, attention to detail and all round motion capture here is nothing short of phenomenal. Avatar really set the bar high for motion capture, but Tin Tin clears that bar without breaking a sweat. The tiniest little nuances in the characters leap off the screen, in what at times is absolutely surreal viewing. And that’s not even mentioning their eyes. The eyes tell a million stories and these ones are alive. Alive I tells ya! The action set pieces (while it would have been nice to have a few more) are fantastic. The big chase scene near the end is a sight to behold. It is breath-taking to say the least. Even a scene near the beginning where Tin Tin is dodging between cars (on another chase) is wonderful watching. The characters have immense personality and are incredibly watchable and likeable. Credit where it’s due to its cast, which include Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Daniel Craig. All do a top job of bringing their digital counterparts to life. And while you could make the argument that this is a movie that could have been made without motion capture, when you see the faces and the eyes, those arguments more or less become null and void. Equally so, Tin Tin screams Spielberg. It moves and looks like a Spielberg movie (and then some) and that is testament to what is quite a powerful embracing of relatively new technology.
All those positive things said, at times the story and pacing slow down a little bit and things can linger ever so slightly. While it’s not enough to derail the whole thing, it does get noticeable. Besides that though, it's a hard one to fault. The John Williams score (while a little bit different from his usual style) is very European and at times is almost reminiscent of a certain Fedora wearing explorer.There are some genuinely lovely touches and throwbacks to the original series, in particular the scene where Tin Tin is getting his portrait done. It is quite obvious that an incredible amount of time, effort and immense care has gone into this production, and I guess it wouldn’t be hard considering Spielberg has been sitting on the rights since 1983. The 3D, while effective at times adds little or nothing to the movie. That said it may all depend on where you see it. For a movie that is colourful it should pop right off the screen. Alas, in my screening the blacks looked more like a mid grey and yet again, I had to endure a washed out looking viewing.
Fans of the original will love this and non fans will certainly go and see what all the fuss is about. And while Tin Tin may not be entirely as mainstream as other franchises, this is a movie crafted with incredible loving care and at times is genuinely breath taking. The more I think about it, I really want to go back and see it again. Tin Tin is most definitely Win Win.
