Tintin - The Secret Of The Unicorn

Tonight I went to see Tintin at my local cinema. Though younger children may not be familiar with the character and I being in my mid twenties I was really looking forward to seeing it, having watched the cartoons as a child, and it didn't disappoint! Memories of the cartoon character's mannerisms came walzing back into my memory when they appeared on the big screen and the film was filled with a plethora of qualities that make a Tintin episode so quintessentially Tintin.

Produced by Peter Jackson and directed by Steven Spielberg it had to be good, and believe me it didn't disappoint! With their clever decisions to film it with performance capture animation where the viewer can see every little hair on Tintin's face and hairs move with the wind, it brought the whole film to life and made it so believable you almost forget that you are not watching real people.

We meet Tintin as he is having his portrait painted and when the artist turns the canvas round for use to see, we see it is the Tintin as the original author Hergé depicted him in the comics. It is a clever moment and sets the scene for the film where we first discover the ship the Unicorn and the story unfold from there. I won't spoil it for you all :)
With epic sea plane scenes, battle ships on fire, motorbike and car chases, scenes in the Sahara desert, mirages, flashbacks, mystery, hidden treasure, crane mauling and plenty of humour, what more could a guy ask for?

Putting all those different scenes together in a list like that might make you think; "wow that storyline jumps around a lot," true it does but it works so well and everything flows like it should and leaves you in suspense, and wanting to find out more.

The two main characters; the intelligent and quiff wearing Tintin and whisky loving Captain Haddock are visually perfect to the original cartoon characters and their witty lines, and interaction with Tintin's faithful dog Snowy make an enthralling film you definitely wouldn't want to miss a second of. Don't even think about getting up to go to the loo!

Even Captain Haddock's flashback scenes were well executed and the whole quality of the truly inventive transitions between scenes were superb.

The film is a refreshing break from the cheesy, staid and countless sequels that litter our cinemas screens much like popcorn scattered over the aisle floor. It incorporates superb creativity, action, mystery with humour and really is a well deserving and enjoyable must see movie of the year!

P.s. The music is brilliant, the soundtrack being written by John Williams who also worked on the Harry Potter soundtracks, and though not very similar both have John Williams' stamp on them, and I came away absentmindedly singing the Harry Potter theme tune :)