The Adventures of Tin Tin : The Secret of the Unicorn

Since its beginning in 1929, The Adventures of Tintin has been an immensely popular comic series, and achieved a superlative run of 47 years. The series has attracted an insurmountable fan-base all over the world, with translations published in over 80 languages and more than 350 million books sold worldwide. Series creator Hergé has stated that legendary American director Steven Spielberg would be the only man capable of translating Tintin’s world to film, and almost 30 years after Hergé’s death, the mastermind behind E.T. and Indiana Jones has brought Tintin to the screen with The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn.

Tintin tells the story of Tintin (Jamie Bell), a young Belgian journalist who purchases a model ship called the Unicorn at a local flea-market. Turns out the model ship contains a riddle to find long-lost treasure, and Tintin, along with his faithful dog Snowy, set off on a worldwide treasure hunt. In pursuit of the treasure, Tintin and his dog Snowy befriend the loveable Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis), and discover that they are not the only ones on the hunt for the treasure, as the evil Sakharine (Daniel Craig) will stop at nothing to make sure that the treasure ends up in his possession. The film is expertly written by the team of Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish, adapting three original Tintin stories, and their love for the original comics is clear.

While the script is wonderfully written and the voice-work is excellent, the real success of Tintin is the film’s sense of adventure, and it succeeds brilliantly. Spielberg is certainly a man who understands the magic needed to create a first-rate adventure film, and this film is no exception. The films sense of exploration is truly extraordinary. A particular chase sequence in Morocco is so perfectly choreographed that every ridiculous movement is somehow rendered completely and utterly believable, and the sequence makes the film an excellent cinema-going experience. If that wasn’t impressive enough, the use of 3D in the film only enhances the scene, as opposed to the typically distracting features the third dimension normally brings to a film.
In fact, Tintin works on such a remarkably broad scale that it’s nearly impossible not to get drawn into the beautiful motion-capture CGI and breathtaking set-pieces. Spielberg uses the aforementioned set-pieces with a masterstroke that only Spielberg can bring, echoing his classic adventure films like Raiders of the Lost Ark. Tintin never really slows down, allowing its lengthy 122-minute runtime to fly by.

Spielberg has once again teamed up with legendary musician John Williams, who is arguably the most well-known composer in film. His work here is also excellent, enhancing Tintin’s spectacular action sequences. The film also includes a crew comprised of some of the biggest names in Hollywood; executive producer Peter Jackson and one of the finest cinematographers in existence, Janusz Kaminski (Saving Private Ryan). With this much talent behind it, Tintin is a film seemingly destined to succeed. And succeed it does. Tintin is a masterpiece.

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