Wow, I'm disappointed that there's no review thread for this film, especially considering I know I wasn't the only person on this board who's been anxiously awaiting this film since it was first announced several years ago.
Fortunately, I wasn't disappointed by the film. As a Tintinophile, I freely admit I went in with high expectations, and while it wasn't as good as I hoped it would be, it wasn't dismal as I feared. What the film excelled in was capturing the spirit of the characters and the adventure of the story (with plenty of small references to many of the albums), and that alone made it worth the price of admission.
As much as I love the antics of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in Spaced and their "The Three Flavours Cornetto" trilogy, I was a bit worried about their casting as the bumbling detectives, Thompson and Thomson. Suffice to say, I loved their performance and I actually had actively listen to their voices to discern who was who, which I can say is only a good thing. There was exactly the right amount of their slapstick and absentminded comedy routine throughout the film and I was especially happy to see the elastic wallet sequence.
Andy Serkis was also well fitted as Captain Archibald Haddock and I disagree with reviews that said he wasn't coarse and rough-voiced enough. Firstly, he was plenty of coarse and rough-voiced, and while it wasn't as much as he is in the later albums, what we see in the film is very closely to how Haddaock is in his first album, The Crab of the Golden Claws (which is one of three stories the film adapted from).
This brings me to Tintin. Tintin is a difficult character to adapt because of his boyish and ambiguous nature, and although I was mildly reminded of Elijah Wood in certain parts, I felt Jamie Bell did as best of a job that anyone could do with the character.
And no, I didn't forget about Snowy. While I know it wasn't practical for the film, I did miss Snowy's sarcastic comments, but Spielberg and Jackson did a wonderful job in capturing Snowy's character, whether he was saving Tintin from a tough scrap or getting himself in trouble because his fondness food, alcohol and chasing cats.
For as long as the production as been running, I was not happy about the lack of mention of Professor Calculus especially considering his first album, Red Rackham's Treasure, was one of the three stories being adapted. Now that I have seen the film, I can understand for his exclusion: The film draws primarily from The Secret of the Unicorn and only develops certain elements from The Crab with the Golden Claws and Red Rackham's Treasure. That being said, it was nice to see some of the smaller characters from the stories including Nestor, Allan, Mrs. Finch, Omar Ben Salaad (complete with the mispronunciation of his name as "salad"), and, yes, even Bianca Castafiore.
In regards to the adaptation, I must admit that it helped that the film adapted three of my lesser favorite albums. I know The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham's Treasure are two fan favorites, but those two stories never really interested me, even though the former was the very first story I read when I was a child. It's been years since I've these two particular stories, so my memory of how well the stories were adapted is a bit limited, but I know there were some significant changes. By including The Crab of the Golden Claws, the film introduces one of my favorite elements of the Tintin series which is probably why I don't like the aforementioned duology as much as others (because it lacks this particular element): globetrotting.
Now, for the small things that made grin like a little boy: I loved the opening titles (and was pleasantly surprised that the low-key score was written by John "King of Bombastic" Williams) with all of its references to nearly, if not all, of the Tintin adventures. It was especially cool to frames from the albums themselves during particular sequence. I also loved spotting all of Tintin's visits on the airport ticker as well as newspaper clippings to Tintin's adventures prior to the film. And how wonderful of a way to open the film but to have a Hergé-looking artist painting Tintin portrait! Speaking of Hergé, I thought the film did a very good job in capture the artist's distinct style.
That all being said and done, there were definitely aspects of the film that I didn't like at all. There were far too many absurd, over-the-top action sequences that were nothing like Hergé's style (he certainly had some absurd moments, especially with Thompson and Thomson, but nothing on the level of the crane sequence). I also didn't like the major alteration of Ivan Ivanovitch Sakharine's character from a simple collector to an evil mastermind who just happens to be a descendant of Red Rackham and is seeking revenge against Haddock because of his ancestry (which is true to the stories), all for the sake of having a major to act against Tintin and Haddock.
While the film isn't as amazing as I or even bigger Tintin fans (there are some pretty scathing reviews out there) hoped for, the film does a good enough job for me to at least enjoy the adventure. And as this reviewer, as well as Tintinologist Michael Farr noted, the film will hopefully go a long way to increase interest in the Tintin series for years to come.
Fortunately, I wasn't disappointed by the film. As a Tintinophile, I freely admit I went in with high expectations, and while it wasn't as good as I hoped it would be, it wasn't dismal as I feared. What the film excelled in was capturing the spirit of the characters and the adventure of the story (with plenty of small references to many of the albums), and that alone made it worth the price of admission.
As much as I love the antics of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in Spaced and their "The Three Flavours Cornetto" trilogy, I was a bit worried about their casting as the bumbling detectives, Thompson and Thomson. Suffice to say, I loved their performance and I actually had actively listen to their voices to discern who was who, which I can say is only a good thing. There was exactly the right amount of their slapstick and absentminded comedy routine throughout the film and I was especially happy to see the elastic wallet sequence.
Andy Serkis was also well fitted as Captain Archibald Haddock and I disagree with reviews that said he wasn't coarse and rough-voiced enough. Firstly, he was plenty of coarse and rough-voiced, and while it wasn't as much as he is in the later albums, what we see in the film is very closely to how Haddaock is in his first album, The Crab of the Golden Claws (which is one of three stories the film adapted from).
This brings me to Tintin. Tintin is a difficult character to adapt because of his boyish and ambiguous nature, and although I was mildly reminded of Elijah Wood in certain parts, I felt Jamie Bell did as best of a job that anyone could do with the character.
And no, I didn't forget about Snowy. While I know it wasn't practical for the film, I did miss Snowy's sarcastic comments, but Spielberg and Jackson did a wonderful job in capturing Snowy's character, whether he was saving Tintin from a tough scrap or getting himself in trouble because his fondness food, alcohol and chasing cats.
For as long as the production as been running, I was not happy about the lack of mention of Professor Calculus especially considering his first album, Red Rackham's Treasure, was one of the three stories being adapted. Now that I have seen the film, I can understand for his exclusion: The film draws primarily from The Secret of the Unicorn and only develops certain elements from The Crab with the Golden Claws and Red Rackham's Treasure. That being said, it was nice to see some of the smaller characters from the stories including Nestor, Allan, Mrs. Finch, Omar Ben Salaad (complete with the mispronunciation of his name as "salad"), and, yes, even Bianca Castafiore.
In regards to the adaptation, I must admit that it helped that the film adapted three of my lesser favorite albums. I know The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham's Treasure are two fan favorites, but those two stories never really interested me, even though the former was the very first story I read when I was a child. It's been years since I've these two particular stories, so my memory of how well the stories were adapted is a bit limited, but I know there were some significant changes. By including The Crab of the Golden Claws, the film introduces one of my favorite elements of the Tintin series which is probably why I don't like the aforementioned duology as much as others (because it lacks this particular element): globetrotting.
Now, for the small things that made grin like a little boy: I loved the opening titles (and was pleasantly surprised that the low-key score was written by John "King of Bombastic" Williams) with all of its references to nearly, if not all, of the Tintin adventures. It was especially cool to frames from the albums themselves during particular sequence. I also loved spotting all of Tintin's visits on the airport ticker as well as newspaper clippings to Tintin's adventures prior to the film. And how wonderful of a way to open the film but to have a Hergé-looking artist painting Tintin portrait! Speaking of Hergé, I thought the film did a very good job in capture the artist's distinct style.
That all being said and done, there were definitely aspects of the film that I didn't like at all. There were far too many absurd, over-the-top action sequences that were nothing like Hergé's style (he certainly had some absurd moments, especially with Thompson and Thomson, but nothing on the level of the crane sequence). I also didn't like the major alteration of Ivan Ivanovitch Sakharine's character from a simple collector to an evil mastermind who just happens to be a descendant of Red Rackham and is seeking revenge against Haddock because of his ancestry (which is true to the stories), all for the sake of having a major to act against Tintin and Haddock.
While the film isn't as amazing as I or even bigger Tintin fans (there are some pretty scathing reviews out there) hoped for, the film does a good enough job for me to at least enjoy the adventure. And as this reviewer, as well as Tintinologist Michael Farr noted, the film will hopefully go a long way to increase interest in the Tintin series for years to come.
It's too bad the ending sequence wasn't stronger... I kept thinking this was the second to last set piece (cause they still had to go after the sunken wreck) but then they caught the bad guy and suddenly it was over! 
