Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Tintin's adventure a little too familiar

Walking into a screening of "The Adventures of Tintin," all I really knew was Steven Spielberg was involved and the boy-reporter character in the title was popular in Europe. Several of my mom friends were fans as kids. I don't remember this one from my youth.

The film pulls from several of the Tintin comic books, primarily "The Crab with the Golden Claws," "The Secret of the Unicorn" and "Red Rackham's Treasure" The story starts with Tintin buying a replica of the Unicorn, a 17th century ship that unbeknownst to Tintin holds a key clue to a great treasure. Suddently strangers offer to buy it at any price. Of course this piques Tintin's interest. Later the ship is stolen, but not before the clue falls out for Tintin to find, kick starting quite the perilous adventure for Tintin and his faithful dog, Snowy. Tintin is kidnapped, shot at, jumps ship, nearly dies in a plane crash, wanders the desert, flies through the air, etc. etc. It feels a lot like an animated young Indiana Jones story. Tintin is joined by the very drunk Captain Haddock, an ancestor of the Unicorn's captain, who went down with the treasure. There's also a side story about a wallet thief that brings comic relief.

It's entertaining, but it isn't too memorable. C+

The movie is rated PG for adventure action violence, smoking and some drunkenness. The film is geared toward older children and adults familiar with junior reporter/sleuth Tintin.

If you bring little ones:
-Captain Haddock is drunk most of the film, and he isn't ashamed of it. For example, he drinks the medicinal alcohol on the airplane. When it's needed to keep the engine going, he belches the remains to keep in flight.

-Hero Tintin is put in many perilous situations. Including nearly crashing in the plane, nearly falling into the plane's propellers, getting kidnapped, escaping gun fire, etc.

Enjoy!

No comments:

Post a Comment