The Adventures of Tintin (2011)

Few filmmakers have adhered so closely to the philosophy of “show, don’t tell” as Steven Spielberg. His skill at telling stories through the use of compelling visuals—the yellow barrels in Jaws, the glass of water in Jurassic Park, countless other examples—is just about unparalleled, and giving him full control over a stop-motion animated film would seem to have a great deal of potential. If you strip away all the limitations of live-action filmmaking, you open up a whole new and exciting world for Spielberg to conquer. He gets this chance with The Adventures of Tintin, and on a strictly visual level this film is something to behold. There are about three or four unforgettable action sequences here that are not only worth the price of admission, but also any 3-D surcharge you might face. Tintin is far less effective at making the audience give a crap about what they’re seeing, and as a result much of the spectacle lacks any real emotional heft. It’s still a whole bunch of fun, but only so long as you accept it doesn’t have anything deeper to offer.

Based on the widely-loved comics by Hergé, The Adventures of Tintin hits the ground running by introducing our eponymous hero (Jamie Bell), a journalist who purchases a model ship at a local market. When a couple of mysterious figures show a great deal of interest in the ship—including the villainous Ivan Ivanovitch Sakharine (Daniel Craig)—Tintin begins to suspect there’s more to this purchase than meets the eye. He’s right, of course, and that begins an epic adventure that takes us to the middle of the ocean, the desert, and the fictional Moroccan town of Bagghar. Along the way we meet the mostly inept detectives Thompson and Thompson (Simon Pegg and Nick Frost) as well as the constantly drunk Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis), who may be more useful than meets the eye.

Spielberg is in full Indiana Jones mode here; moving from setpiece to setpiece with his sights on nothing more than creating a thrilling adventure for the audience. Once Tintin gets going, this approach works with flying colors. The only problem is that it does take a little while to get going, and outside of a stellar opening credits sequence the audience is never really given an opportunity to get their feet on solid ground before the film kicks into high gear. We’re expected to care about Tintin and friends just because they’re the heroes, and that is a far shallower mentality than we’re usually used to from Spielberg movies. The Indiana Jones movies work because through the adventures, we get to know who Jones is as a person. Tintin never does enough work in the realm of character development to fully invest us in what Tintin is up to.

The good news is eventually it doesn’t matter. The best character here is Serkis’ Captain Haddock, who at first appears to serve little purpose besides comic relief but is eventually revealed to be a vital part of the story. There is more character development in Haddock’s scenes than in the rest of the film combined, and as a result his character works on a level that Tintin himself can never quite match. But even Haddock eventually takes a back seat to the film’s large-scale action, which Spielberg orchestrates with tremendous mastery. In particular, there is one single-shot chase scene late in the film so amazing that, even though animated, still makes you wonder just how Spielberg and the wizards at Weta Digital were able to pull it off. If nothing else, Tintin makes a convincing case that stop motion animation is still a viable method of filmmaking. The characters here don’t completely lose the weird-eyed creepiness seen in past outings, but this is as dazzled by the technology as I’ve ever been.

After all the great films Spielberg has made—many of which explored new ground while also telling worthwhile stories—it’s a tad strange that The Adventures of Tintin became little more than a frenetic technology showcase. But oh, how joyously frenetic it is. There’s not a whole lot of steak behind the enticing sizzle, but it’s hard to imagine that this film’s action sequences won’t win over even the most cynical of hearts. The philosophy of Tintin is simple: take everything that has been done with motion capture thus far and blow it the heck out of the water. Throw a visual master like Steven Spielberg behind the controls (along with producer Peter Jackson, who will allegedly direct the sequel) and you’re well on your way to a memorably exciting movie experience. Asking for much more just seems like quibbling.

Grade: B+