Action-packed animation stays true to ‘Tintin’s’ spirit

“THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN.” Eye-popping visuals.

You don’t have to be a Tintin comic book fan to enjoy “The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn,” Steven Spielberg’s cinematic take on the beloved Belgian series by Hergé. But, if you are familiar with the eponymous hero, his loyal dog, Snowy, the salty Captain Haddock, and the rest of the motley crew, you’ll be able to appreciate the fact that Spielberg and his team have stayed true to the spirit of the series.

While some purists might object to the fact that the film bases its narrative not just on “The Secret of the Unicorn,” but also on “The Crab with the Golden Claws” and “Red Rackham’s Treasure,” the story is nonetheless classic Hergé: It’s set in a wide variety of exotic locales, is fast-paced and often amusing, and our hero and his friends triumph over their enemies through courage and ingenuity. It’s wholesome but never boring—and is good, old-fashioned swashbuckling fun!

Reading “Tintin” and watching it on the screen are two different experiences, and the latter still can’t beat the former in terms of complete enjoyment. Even so, one has to applaud Spielberg, coproducers, Peter Jackson and Kathleen Kennedy, the voice actors, and the movie’s hundreds of animators for managing to bring that breathless, can’t-turn-the-page-fast-enough feeling to the big screen.

Certainly the charm of Hergé’s drawings is, by necessity, missing, since “The Adventures of Tintin” is a motion-capture animated film that’s also in 3D, but the filmmakers make up for it with gorgeous, eye-popping visuals. Tintin in his original cartoon form does make a brief appearance in the inspired opening scene—and, keep your eyes peeled for Hergé’s cameo there, as well!

Fox terrier

For those who don’t know who Tintin is, he’s an intrepid boy reporter in his mid- to late teens, who gets himself into different scrapes, but always manages to get out of them with the help of his friends and his white fox terrier. In the film, he gets involved in a mystery that turns out to be a treasure hunt that takes him from the cobblestone streets of a European city, to the hold of a ship, to the middle of the ocean, to the middle of the desert—and back again. And, all in less than two hours!

To say that the movie is action-packed is an understatement. The action gets a bit overwhelming sometimes, especially in a particularly long chase scene in the fictional city of Bagghar, which is marvelously inventive, but a tad exhausting.  Still, kids will probably lap it up.

The talented cast of voice actors, all of whom give strong performances, is another plus for the movie. Jamie Bell (“Billy Elliot”), Andy Serkis and Daniel Craig voice the three main characters, with Bell as Tintin, Serkis as Captain Haddock, and Craig as the antagonist, Ivan Ivanovitch Sakharine. Comedians Nick Frost and Simon Pegg voice the inept Interpol duo, Thomson and Thompson, who provide comic relief in some scenes.