The Adventures of Tintin is an animated adaptation of the Hergé’s French comic book series of the same name. The story follows Tintin (voiced by Jamie Bell), a young crime-fighting British journalist. He lives alone in an apartment with his white fox terrier, Snowy. One day he purchases a model ship, the Unicorn, and discovers that it is in high demand. After a day of trying to solve the ship’s mystery, he returns to his apartment to find the model ship stolen. Investigation leads him to Ivan Sakharine (voiced by Daniel Craig), who is searching for hidden messages in the masts of the only three models of the Unicorn in the world. These messages will give directions to the sunken Unicorn and its vast store of treasure. Tintin realizes that Sakharine has sinister intentions, and sets out to stop Sakharine and his men from finding the treasure. Along the way, he meets Captain Haddock (voiced by Andy Serkis), an alcoholic seaman who was kidnapped by Sakharine. According to legend, Haddock is the only one who can discover the secret of the Unicorn, as he is the last descendant of the Unicorn’s captain. Tintin, Haddock, and Snowy travel across land and sea all over the world to stop Sakharine from carrying out his plan.

                At first you may think that with a name like The Adventures of Tintin this movie will be just another animated film for little kids. This is quite untrue. Gunfights are not a rare occurrence, and chase scenes abound. Clever action sequences and transitions help the movie flow smoothly and keep the viewer interested and not confused. The genre of the film can only be described as “action fantasy.” But what impressed me the most is that the movie could’ve easily fallen into many traps, but it missed each one. First of all, there is always a risk in adapting beloveds and classic books, but this film pulls it off by sticking to the sentiment of the books while keeping the originality that makes a film spectacular. Second, the movie was filmed with motion capture technology. This can often result in creepy-looking characters (such as in The Polar Express, 2004), but facial features are altered enough to substitute a whimsical look for a creepily realistic look. Third, the film is in 3D. I’ll admit I’m against the takeover of 3D in the cinemas, mostly because the modern glasses darken colors and 3D films lend themselves to overdone 3D gimmicks, like things flying in your face or dramatic finger-pointing. However, Tintin’s colors are still bright and the darker scenes don’t completely black out. Also, the movie is mostly gimmick-free. 3D effects seem unnecessary in many films where they are added, but 3D is used to the fullest by giving the settings depth and the aerial views and crowded scenes a more realistic and majestic feel. One trap that the film does fall into is the too-apparent moral of the story. The moralistic scene is almost cliché in fleshing out the “don’t let failure stop you” theme. There are no attempts to make the moral subtle, but this is pretty much the only downfall of the film. Overall, Tintin is great fun for all ages and won’t be a waste of your money.