The Adventures of Tintin

I was pretty sure I was never going to see the movie The Adventures of Tintin, but that was because I had no idea what it was. It's based on an animated TV series from the early 90's, but I didn't know that. I thought it was an animated feature for kids about a kid with a dog. I thought the dog's name was Tintin, due to the unfortunate coincidence of a recently released biography about a dog named Rin Tin Tin. I confess, I was completely wrong, and I would be wrong still if not for that family convention of sitting down to a movie for the sake of togetherness regardless of each individual's movie watching preferences.

The Adventures of Tintin is really rather remarkable, and I wholeheartedly recommend it. This is not your typical animation, in any sense. It's basically a live-action film that just looks animated because that's what they did. They used real people in motion-capture technology, much like they did to create Gollum in Lord of the Rings (in fact, Andy Serkis helped make this movie, too), but rather than creating creatures to use in a realistic-looking world, they animated both the people and the world. I don't mean that you will see any faces of actors you know done up in some caricature (although there are a few that resemble people you might know), but there are real people behind the animated movements you see on screen. And until you see it yourself, you won't believe what a difference it makes in the look of the film.

The story itself is on a level with Indiana Jones or Pirates of the Carribean. Animation lets it be a little over the top as far as reality goes, but weren't those movies a little over the top in live-action? And it's no more a kids' movie than those are. Tintin is a journalist (young, but not a kid) who stumbles onto a big story when he purchases a model boat and then has it stolen from him. The adventures just keep piling up as Tintin, with his smart dog tagging along, uses all his story-sniffing skills to solve a mystery as big as any Jones chased down.

It's completely entertaining fun for adults, though I suppose (grudgingly) kids might enjoy it, too. Ha! It's a perfect family movie (rated PG for action, drunkenness, and smoking) but not the kind you're forced to sit through on a Sunday evening. This is one you all should enjoy!