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The Adventures of Tintin - The Secret of The Unicorn

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Director           Steven Spielberg
Cast                 Daniel Craig, Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kim Stengel, Glad Elmaleh,
Year                2011
Genre              Animation

The ever revered and loved Herge (may his soul rest in peace) had once gone on record to state that if there was anyone who could have made Tintin into  a movie it would have been Steven Spielberg.  Now why would anyone else not dare to challenge this statement? To figure out the answer to this conundrum, you will not have a choice but to watch the movie.  It is only Spielberg who can do justice to an enigma that has regaled us for over 8 decades now.  A fantasy, that has transformed every child’s ambition at sometime or the other from wanting to become a pilot or a businessman or a doctor or an engineer to just that of an investigative journalist.  A cult classic that has been enjoyed by even those who have crossed the half century mark in terms of years walked on earth.  A phenomenon that took the world by storm in 1929 and has truly stood the test of time.  On a different note, only Tintin could have inspired Spielberg to make his first animation movie. Spielberg was meant for Tintin and Tintin (the movie) was meant to be made by Spielberg and no one else.

For those who have not had the good fortune of being Tintin slaves, I can only quote the term, “deprived children”.  Do take this opportunity to read The Secret of The Unicorn before you watch this movie because it personifies another term that expresses the desire of any book lover (comic or otherwise) – being true to the book.  Spielberg has turned every single window from the comic book into a frame and not left anything to chance.  Every single detail has been brought to life and that would hearten both the Tintin maniac or otherwise alike.

John Williams start to the movie with the jazzy tune does remind you a bit of “Catch Me If You Can” (DiCaprio, Walken) but I don’t think it could have been done better than what you hear.  The soundtrack is simply stunning and one track is aptly titled “Loch Lemond” (visit any of the Tintin fan sites to research this piece of trivia).  I could not resist smiling when I read this in the credits.

The casting is picture perfect.  Jamie Bell is superb with the voice of Tintin but the highlight to me was Andy Serkis as Captain Haddock and Daniel Craig as Red Rackham. 

What catches your eye immediately after the titling are the blue grey eyes of Tintin.  Herge would have been thrilled to bits (and I would be putting this mildly) with the idea of the simple dots being replaced with “eyes”.  The attention to detail is stunning – including the simplest of details like the anchor on Captain Haddocks jaded blue sweater.  And yes, one cannot help but wait for the “Billions of Blue Blistering Barnacles” and “Thousands of Thundering Typhoons”.  If it would get a tear to your eye – fear not my fellow Tintin Crazy Fan because it is indeed worth shedding a tear on. 

The trailer calls it - A Race against Evil.  A World Beyond Imagination. An Adventure beyond belief. I don’t think words would do this masterpiece any justice.  It hurts me to say this but my lead runner for this year’s Oscars in the animation category, Cars 2, has just found itself some really stiff competition.  It would break my heart to see Cars lose out yet again but Spielberg has given the jury enough to chew about.  I give this 8.5 on 10.  I leave the judgement to you as to which one was better.

Trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2415828505/
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