Wednesday, October 10, 2012

The Undefined Gamer: "The Adventures of Tintin" Review

Whelp, back to movies for Mitch...



To say that this movie is all that we've come to expect from this
team-up of renown names such as Spielberg and Jackson is a severe
understatement. Originally when hearing about this, I rolled my eyes
as I imagined "Tintin" being another lame CGI-animated "Doogle" like
tale. What's Doogle, you might ask? Exactly. In fact before doing any
research the Pixar Short "Tin Toy" popped into my head. By god, what
where they thinking?
    Tintin originally was a famous series of mystery books, and to my
knowledge, a TV series. Being compared to Raiders of the Lost Arc and
other famous films, it was only a matter of time before Tintin himself
got a feature-length film. And no, this is not... for kids.
     I know, I know. It's CGI. So does that automatically make it a
kids movie? No. Tintin has very adult themes in it despite its PG
rating, from a CIA agent getting murdered on Tintin's front doorstep,
to his alcohol obsessed partner. The plot is brilliant. It follows
Tintin, the world's bravest journalist, who buys a model ship
containing many secrets... that others would kill to get. After his
apartment is broken into and the ship stolen, Tintin finds himself
embarking on a very dangerous adventure that would see himself
uncovering lost riches.... and lost secrets of the past. All while
getting almost murdered every 3 seconds.


"Hey look. Porn..."
The action is very good. In fact, extremely good. The trailer
(cause I know that's all you've seen of it, Alex), just doesn't do it
justice. No. The scene where Tintin is running from cronies shooting
at him while he tries to get off a boat where the crew has committed
mutiny should've been in the trailer. The action is all we've come to
expect from Spielberg and Jackson and more. It not only holds your
attention, at times it really does take your breath away (like a scene
where a whole fraken tank is dragging a hotel with it through the
streets of a middle-eastern city).
    Now for the writing. Almost perfect. Tintin is dramaric,
suspenseful, and humorous all in one. The only thing I don't like
about the film, is Tintin comes out as an incredible stupid, arrogant
person. I mean if not for his incredible luck, he'd be dead. Fast.
   The villain is well-developed as well. Not much to say there, but
well done. The visuals, are simply amazing for this kind of film. I
mean, you have to look real closely to tell that this is a
CGI-animated film. It's like Polar Express if improved upon by three
steps. This type of realistic animation quality to date dwarfs even
Pixar. Nobody has really been able to successfully make a movie with
this level of realism to it. I mean, if this movie had managed to go a
little further, there would be no way to really see what is CGI and
what is a real person. Little details like slightly round noses (like
the Captain), and eyes do deceive it. But if you glance at it quickly,
yeah the people look real. And don't get me started on their attention
to detail. Though I still don't get why a palace guard would be
carrying a bazooka outside a stone palace. That thing has enough power
to blow a dam (I should know because they did it), plus you know how
much those things cost?


That's just plane weird.
    Tintin is not a perfect movie. True, it is entertaining,
well-written, and funny. However, it's the little things that keep it
from perfection. Mainly the fact that Tintin's accomplishments were
not based off solely because he's bright (though he can be idiotic at
times), no, it's because he's lucky. True, there are oodles and oodles
of creative stunts worthy of several Mythbuster tests, there just
seems to be some easy things that could've been changed to improve the
movie. And honestly, a 6 (a perfect score), just doesn't represent
that. A perfect score represents a movie that is so good it can't be
improved upon without downgrading the quality. Tintin is not a perfect
movie. It has it's flaws. However, it's strengths make it a memorable,
fun, creative movie definitely worth a watch. Or two. Or three.

The Adventures of Tintin gets 5.5 Stars out of 6

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