Spielberg’s latest cinematic escapade makes a tremendous impression on viewers. Based off of a graphic novel series, The Adventures of Tintin is a great balance between cinematic action for the adults and charming storytelling for children.
A young reporter in London named Tintin buys a model of a famed ship known as the Unicorn. He is interrupted by a man who tries to buy it back from him saying, “It’ll get him into a mess of trouble.” Tintin decides to do some research, leading him farther into the mystery of the Unicorn, Sir Francis’ family, and the greatest sunken treasure in the world. This unravels a fantastic adventure for the entire family.
The film itself is certainly amazing within the realms of CGI, creating almost shockingly realistic computer images. The company responsible was the same that did The Polar Express, which received harsh critiques for the visuals being too in-between realistic and non-realistic. The company has obviously improved since then, showing its newfound skill to create the fantastically detailed visuals in Tintin. Not a single hair seems out of place, the water looks great, and the characters look almost real enough to be live action actors. It’s almost surreal just how realistic this movie looks.
The balance of themes from adult to child are also done very well. There is no skipping on violence, but it’s slightly tongue in cheek. Despite the pure number of people shooting MP40’s at Tintin, he never even gets near a bullet, only firing his gun a total of two times the entire film. Yet there is a lot of featured shooting and violence and obvious going on about Captain Hadock’s (Tintin’s companion) raging alcoholism. So even though the film is marketed towards children, it’s not as if it’s some little kid’s tale; there are some rather mature moments.
All and all the film is a fantastic blend of whimsical storytelling and cinematic moviemaking. Anyone who goes to see this film can have a great time for one reason or another, a fine film with amazing visuals, fun for the whole family.
