Opening very soon in Bangkok. Our favorite reviwer, Ebert, loved it.
Saw it tonight and thought it was… pretty good. The animation was a little creepy and never entirely ventured out of the Uncanny Valley, I thought; I would much rather they used traditional animation in Herge’s style. Snowy was much too pudgy around the jowls. Voice talents all good. The action sequences were all quite good (although the pirate ship actually being hoisted into the air and going over the Unicorn was too much). Seemed to end a little abruptly, too. Still, glad I saw it.
I’m just back from it with my son (9 years old) and wife (Hungarian and very familiar with the books); I know Tintin from college when my German professor used them as supplemental reading material. We all loved it. It was funny and adventurous in, as somebody has already remarked, the 30’s serial kind of way.
Serkis was great as Haddock, and Craig did a wonderful job as Saccharine. The animation didn’t bother me at all. I also think it helped I didn’t see it in 3d (not sure what it would have added to the movie).
A couple things I noted. At one point Haddock says, “Giant rats of Sumatra!” which I guess is a shout-out to “Dead Alive” (in turn, Sherlock Holmes).
There were a couple things that placed it distinctly post-war: the tank and there was a glimpse of a downed Messerschmitt in the sands.
Finally, the tank shows up in the big chase in such a way I think something got left on the cutting room floor (or I missed it).
I saw it in 2D and enjoyed it, not knowing anything at all about Tintin. The uncanny valley animation went away for me too after about 5 or so minutes, then I just went along for the ride.
Snowy was worth the price of admission all by himself!
I liked the opening credits and was wondering if it was made specifically for hard-core Tintin fans. That is, were they specific shots of various adventures from the original stories that fans would recognize, or if they were just random generic adventures.
The movie itself took ideas from multiple adventures and blended them together, mostly the two part story “Secret of the Unicorn” and “Red Rackham’s Treasure” but also some from the “Crab with the Golden Claws” though they threw in some characters from other books, such as Bianca Castafiore.
The opening titles were from those and many of the other books, with a new connective through-plot attached to the vignettes.
Are you trying to say that Ebert is the SDMB’s favorite reviewer? He certainly isn’t mine. I’ll take Kenneth Turan of the LA Times any day over Ebert. Not that he isn’t a lovely and very interesting reviewer, but many of his opinions are highly questionable IMHO. In the good old days, I trusted Siskel more, and he wasn’t any great shakes.
Well that’s been done. I had no uncanny valley problems with it. I thought the CGI set a new high bar. It was a masterpiece.
And to the folks that saw it in 2D and wonder what 3D could add, well you missed out. Go see it in 3D. The whole movie benefited from it, every damn shot.
No, I meant the wife’s and mine, of course. She loves him too. I never liked Siskel myself, but I’m glad he worked for you.
It was a big hit with my family. The story strays away from the books quite a bit, but it hangs together enough to make a good yarn. They threw in a bunch of little things (such as a cameo by Herge) for the hardcore fans, but newbies will be fine with it too.
Just saw it this afternoon. GREAT movie. Spielberg is in full-Raiders form with this one.
Two observations:
This movie proves you can walk boldly and unafraid through the uncanny valley. The animation worked beautifully IMHO.
Poor Tintin needs a CT scan. He got knocked cold no fewer than four times in this film.
A voice of dissent. Did not like it much at all. Tintin came off as smug, arrogant, and really just no fun. Not a likable kid. I pictured him more as little brownshirt than anything else. More so as a punk who thinks a lot of himself when most things working out for him are exclusively because of extraordinary strokes of good luck (which writers are allowed to do, over and over and over again, but then they should have some fun with making fun of the amazing luck or make fun of a character who tries to credit for it or at least have the character be grateful that “the gods” have blessed them.)
The animation was brilliant, but I expected more from the screenplay what with Moffat’s involvement and all.
Maybe I would have liked it more if I had grown up a TinTin fan, but the other father who went was one and also was displeased … a bit dark for Tintin he thought.
Huh. Because that’s why I liked the character when I was a kid. I liked him being cocky. I like it now even more, after ten years of Harry Potter wangst.
And that’s why I liked the comic overall when I was a kid. I knew Tintin’s amazing luck was OTT. I also knew no one could drink as much as Haddock and live. And that if Madame Bianca was as bad a singer as Haddock thought she was, she wouldn’t be famous. I was willing to suspend my disbelief for all these things. And it was fun.
After seeing Tintin’s adventures brought to the big screen by Disney, I’m kind of hoping they’ll do the same with their Uncle Scrooge property one of these days. I’m sure Spielberg would be interested in that. Uncle Scrooge’s archaeological adventures were a big part of the inspiration for the Indiana Jones series.
Duck Tales wasn’t enough for you? I think they did a pretty decent job of adapting the Unca Scrooge stories.
I grew up with Tin Tin, totally looking forward to it.
That was a generation ago. Time flies, huh? 
I’m a Tintin noob–I saw the movie today and really enjoyed it. I saw the 3D version and I think they used the effect quite well. Loved the scene where they were trying to get the keys without waking the crew up–those guys were sound sleepers!
Double huh 
That’s also why I started to dislike the Potter series after book 2 (but then was stuck reading them with my kid) … the characters seem to have a lot in common to me and none of which makes me like them.
As for Madame Bianca I thought that it was a reflection of Haddock’s thoughts about opera … give him a rousing song in pub sung off key any day; she’s high brow music.
Still worth seeing … just for the animation. Brilliantly done in so many ways, from the opening sequence, to the throw-away with the caricature showing the traditional cartoon Tintin first. Wonderful attention to detail through out. An amazing technical and artistic achievement. I just wish it was in service of a better screenplay (which pains me to write as Moffat’s involvement was part of what got me into the theater) and better direction.
Saw it yesterday and was blown away. Can’t wait to see it again. It has quite possibly spoiled every future movie-going experience for me. Clapped furiously after. Glorious - though they did over-do a bit the “look how great we can animate hair blowing in the breeze!”
I actually hated Snowy with a passion, but he was 100% essential to the plot, obviously.
I was vaguely aware of Tin Tin (And the Thompson twins because of the Pet Shop Boys first tour - too odd to get into) because I worked at the San Francisco FAO Schwarz at one point who carried the books and I remember how excited people would be to find them. Flipped through a couple but mostly they didn’t resonate with me.
Loved the open-ended ending leaving the opportunity for sequels!
Funny…the friend I was with watched a few minutes of the credits and said “Think there will be bloopers?” heh.
Just got back from seeing it. I knew some of the Tintin stories from many years ago, and enjoyed the drawing style, technical accuracy and epic feel of the stories without ever becoming an obsessed fan. For me the film captured the mood and overall atmosphere of the comics while still being vastly different in style.
The story wove together elements of several of the comics fairly seamlessly. Loved the noirish lighting effects and attention to detail throughout, and the action setpieces were mostly riveting. The many physical impossibilities during these sequences at least looked plausible, something that could rarely be said for both traditional and CGI animations of the past. Was less impressed with the character acting, Serkis’ Captain Haddock pretty much stole the show.
Overall, I thought it was a great technical success, and the combination of motion capture and digital allowed Spielberg to carry th8ings off with far fewer physical limitations than in the '80s-'90s adventures of his that this film so much resembles. I have to think that say, Temple of Doom might have worked considerably better had this technology been available at the time it was made.