Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Daniel Craig
'The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn' grips fans of the comic series from the moment the titles play. It’s nothing short of delightful to watch some of our favourite panels from the three books the movie is based on – The Crab with the Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn, and Red Rackham’s Treasure. They come alive in what seems to be a fond tribute to Hergé.
The film teases the audience.
As Tintin (Jamie Bell) takes his time making a hero’s appearance, we catch a glimpse of Aristides Silk (Toby Jones) and the blundering detective twins Thompson (Simon Pegg) and Thomson (Nick Frost).
The boy reporter’s imagination is captured by the delicate scale model of a three-masted ship, and there begins an adventure that will pit him against Ivan Ivanovich Sakharine (Daniel Craig), lead him to his soon-to-be-best-friend Captain Archibald Haddock (Andy Serkis), introduce him to the arias of Bianca Castafiore (Kim Stengel) and take him to Bagghar, the land of Omar Ben Salaad (Gad Elmaleh).
The Haddock we meet here is the bumbling alcoholic, who is yet to transform into the sophisticated seafaring socialite of the later books. Through his frustrating memory lapses and sobriety-induced hallucinations, Haddock makes you treat him with the affectionate tolerance you would an eccentric, forgetful uncle.
The chemistry between Snowy and Haddock is brilliant even in animation, and it becomes apparent the first time they hear the ‘Milanese Nightingale’, Bianca Castafiore, whose cameo is hilarious in context.
Fans of Tintin are sure to miss Professor Calculus, especially given the role he played in the drama centred around the home of the Captain’s ancestors, Marlinspike Hall.
But the good news is that the moviemakers have said they plan to bring him in for the next adventure.
Peter Jackson, whose company Weta Digital handled the computer graphics, leaves his signature in the sheer beauty of the frames.
From the cast of the torchlight, to the glints in the characters’ eyes, to the reflection of a face in a bubble, mirror or window, to the distortion of objects through bottles and magnifying glasses, the animation is a treat.
The segues between scenes are exquisite.
One fight sequence, where five characters – including a bird – are chasing scrolls is so wonderfully captured that it makes you laugh, lean forward from the edge of your seat, and gasp with enchantment.
The best part of 'The Adventures of Tintin' is that even people who haven’t read the comics or watched the show will enjoy it.