I saw Tintin at the Liberty Cinema (tickets available by dialing 444 on a Dialog). It’s OK. Visually impressive without being oppressive (like Transformers), but still lacks something of a soul. It’s directed by Steven Spielberg, but I still think Super 8 was his best recent venture. Tintin was just kinda flat and dull in the end.
My criteria for a movie is do I care if the characters live or die. Once I’m engaged I’m quite a sop, I hide during scary parts and cry rather freely. If I’m not engaged, however, I’m just bored. With Tintin, aside from Snowy, I didn’t really care. Please note that I never liked the comics either, that may color things.
The CGI motion capture is excellent and real enough without being nauseating. Technically it’s a beautiful film. Just sometimes feels like there’s nobody home.
In Tintin there’s a ‘one shot’ chase sequence which proceeds down a hill, through buildings, involving a motorbike, ropes, tanks and a falcon, among other things. It was an amazing visual Rube Goldberg machine, but at one point I quite tangibly felt that the scenery was warping around the characters rather than the characters changing the scenery. At that point the actors were just props, and the possibility of them failing just wasn’t there. Tintin couldn’t fail in his trip down the hill anymore than the motorbike could fail to run, he was just a link in a chain. Not especially engaging. I actually stopped paying attention, it was just like watching gears in a watch.
The movie is also long, and the Liberty is a rather unpleasant theatre. People talk and yell at the screen, and at intermission I counted, I shit you not, over 20 ads. And I really don’t dig how every movie aspires to be a franchise these days, ending on a cliffhanger, or the promise, indeed, the blackmail of a sequel. Perhaps just make a great movie first, then make some more.
Tintin is showing at the Liberty Cinema, Kollupitiya. Showtimes are 10:30 AM, 01:30 PM, 04:15 PM, and 07:00 PM. I recommend buying tickets over the phone (dialing 444 on a Dialog). It costs about Rs. 60 more, but when you get to the cinema you can skip the line, go up to a machine, enter your reference number and print the ticket yourself. Aside from Captain Haddock’s extreme but comical alcoholism, it’s good for kids.
I wonder why steven SP was motivated to do this kind of movie? Usually he is the science fiction guy. To be honest I dont think that he did a good job in super 8. My money goes on JP 1. BTW thanks for the info.
YOU DON’T LIKE TINTIN???
OMGAAAAAWWWWWDDDDD! *dies*
;)
this is bad man, very bad
Tin Tin is awesome.
Then they had this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tintin_in_the_Congo — full of racial stereotypes.
Still a good read though.
I wonder whether Asterix and Obelix will be next on the screen (all the film adaptations so far have been pathetic).
It’s an American thing, simply didn’t have it around growing up. Even Spielberg, I think, really read it only in adulthood. We also didn’t have Enid Blyton. I heard of her only in Sri Lanka.
Wow you must have had a deprived childhood :)
Blistering barnacles!..You have not read Tin Tin!!
Okay, nitpicking here, but it’s Tintin (one word). Sorry; it kinda irks me when people misspell it.
I’m really surprised you didn’t like it. Sure, you grew up in the States, and Tintin was never a hit across the pond. But come on, it was a great, standalone action-adventure movie. It was visually stunning, (the mo-cap/CGI skillfully avoided the dreaded Uncanny Valley), brilliantly crafted story (script by Steven fucking Moffat!), and the creme of Hollywood was behind the production (Spielberg, Jackson, John Williams, et al)!
?!?!
Okay, rant over. :P
It’s also annoying when people pronounce Tintin phonetically, as if they were describing what trishaws are made out of. It should be pronounced “Tan-tan”.
I thought Tantan was the original French (Belgian) pronunciation? All the adaptations so far (including the ’90s TV series) have pronounced it phonetically, right?
Tan-tan as in boobies?
No Billy bunter, William or the Three Investigators, either, eh? Althought the Three Investigators were American.
Sri Lankans used to pronounce it Tantan, hehe.
And Indi the memorable thing about the comics were haddock, Calculus, Castafiore, etc. Not Tintin himself.
It’s a commendable effort from Spielberg and the rest of the gang, but for someone who has read almost all Tintin books with awe and a certain amount of addiction, it fails to beat that experience.
But the french tan-tan sounds very different from our tan-tan
Yes, the Belgian (the “n” almost silent) way sounds a bit gay, but saying “tin tin” is ridiculous.
And Tin Tin IS Belgian, isn’t he? Hercule Poirot is too, I think.
Haddock’s the best.
The animations were “mind-blasting”… seriously! Cannot believe how far CGI has come. :D