The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn
Just got home from watching the new Tintin movie =)
So, how is it? Well, overall it’s a really complete movie, it has a bit of emotional moments, a bit of comedy, and tons of actions. We have most of the important characters like Tintin, Captain Haddock, Thomson & Thompson, and even Captain Haddock really undergoes a serious character development (you can kinda feel for him, something I didn’t actually get from the comic books).
Now, unlike animation movies made by Pixar such as Up or Wall-E, Tintin doesn’t really try to play with your emotion (though, seeing these characters came alive is already a very emotional moment). Where the movie really shines is the camera work, because it is not a live action movie, they can make some really interesting shots. There are various scenes in the movie where you have several interesting points, for example, while Tintin and Captain Haddock are in a conversation, you can focus on Snowy’s funny actions instead. Or when they’re chasing the bad guys on motor cycle, you can see a dam blows up in the background, making the river overflows, an event which would turn out to be important later as the river will block their path.
And damn, my favorite scene is that chasing scene at Morocco (with the overflowing river). The scene has a really dynamic camera, it simply follows where most actions take place. For example, when Tintin and Captain Haddock get separated, the camera focuses on the captain, and when he is safe, it slowly pans back to Tintin as he starts facing danger. Hell, at one point, the camera follows an eagle instead, and you can see Tintin in the background, frantically trying to catch that bird. And know what? This whole scene plays just like a cutscene in a video game, where you’ve only got one camera and you must pan it to show various interesting points.
Snowy is cuter in the comic books, but he's funnier in the movie!
One really disappointing thing for me is, well, the movie doesn’t really follow the story in the book. I know one book is not enough for a movie, so I thought they’ll be trying to have both Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham’s Treasure in the movie. But instead they combine Secret of the Unicorn with Crab with the Golden Claws. I didn’t really mind the combination, since we now have proper introductions of various important characters. What really bothered me is the ending where they jump straight to the ending of Red Rackham Treasure, essentially skipping the introduction of Professor Calculus and how they become friends.
Though, I’ve gotta say, I really like several twist they gave to the movie, it really adds to Captain Haddock’s character development.
Final thought?
If you’re a fan of Tintin, definitely watch the movie, it would make you want to read the comic books all over again. If you’re not? Well, start reading those Tintin books, goddammit.
BTW, my favorite book is Flight 714, what’s yours? =)
