The Tintin movie experience

Tintin - Summer of 1996 was the first time I was introduced to Tintin comics by my dad.It was a second hand copy of “The broken ear”, the 6^th in the series of 25 comics.  I was immediately sucked into the world of beautiful and quirky characters, witty dialogues & the adventures. 15 years hence, I went to the theater, unsure, but waiting to be wowed by Spielberg (his first animation film).

 And boy, what fun it turned out to be. He comes up with a thoroughly nuanced, brilliantly shot and beautifully captured film that is so lifelike that you can almost feel the characters skin.

Die-hard fans of Tintin may not find the movie to be as emotionally engaging as the books, but its an excellent endeavor nonetheless. Spielberg’s Tintin is unlike Herge’s (the creator of Tintin). Though he is true to the spirit of the comics, he is shown to be a daredevil in the movie.

Mr. Spielberg gives us a great hero (or should I say side-kick) in Captain Haddock, who towers over tintin in most of the frames. The ever drunk, angry, spewing captain has some of the best lines in the film. He even makes him breathe fuel into a plane (sorry for the spoilers) in one of the films many chase sequences involving bikes, cars, planes and , hell, ships.

Then there is snowy, who has a huge role in the movie. Snowy , the only CGI character in the films manages to hold ground of its own.

The passion to bring one the world’s greatest comic characters alive on screen shows as Spielberg, who acquired rights of the movie way back in 1984, has remained as true as possible to the comics. He tells a classic tale of mystery, involving clues, quirky characters without any gadgets & gizmos. It has such an “old world” charm to it. This movie is an excellent endeavor to make the movie as emotionally engaging as possible.

 I really could not find a proper term to define my astonishment when my eyes approached the beautiful places and landscapes shown in the movie. They look perfect, shining and bursting with emotions, sensations; they almost look like paintings: For instance, there's a sunset in the movie that I will hardly forget. It's the same with the CGI models: you can see the wrinkles on the character's faces, even their sweat.

Spielberg has truly gone off his way to make use for the technology. Action scenes are shot with a long single shot, where the camera goes around to wild angles. There's a strong sense of being in on the action and forgetting you even are wearing a pair of painful glasses. The film takes a while to pick off steam at first, but after that the action varies from pirate battles to crane fights. The most outstanding scene is the motorcycle chase near the end, which would give Indiana Jones a run for his money.

The film ends with the promise of a sequel (to be directed by “lord of the rings” fame, Peter Jackson) And boy, oh boy, I’am excited.

But for now, I shall be going back to the comics. Gonna be a long night, after a long time.