The International Writers Magazine:Film

The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn Director: Steven Spielberg Writers: Steven Moffat (screenplay), Edgar Wright (screenplay), Stars: Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis and Daniel Craig

Like many an adult I guess I approached Tin-Tin with great trepidation.  I loved my Tin-Tin books when I was a kid and Snowy made a big impact.  I remember many repeat readings and always laughing at the Thompson twins and the antics of Captain Haddock and imagined just how dreadful the Milanese Nightingale sounded. (I think my dread of Opera must have started right there).

So bravely on a wet Saturday night Kit and I went to the Odeon in Guildford and waited to judge what Spielberg had done with Herge’s work. (Oh yes we saw in 2D – I can do without the headaches thank you).

I think once we had got over the extraordinary plasticisty of Tin-Tin himself and the rather smooth contours of Snowy  (who is grey for some reason and never says Arf-Arf) we were blasted into our seats by the soundtrack and the movie kind of took off.

I have no recollection of the model ship Unicorn for some reason or the plot when I read it years ago, but I sort of remember them flying and being lost in the desert. I wasn’t really convinced by the arch villain Ivanovich Sakharin (who surely should have been voiced by Richard E Grant rather than Daniel Craig) and I’m not sure why we didn’t stick with the same colours and artistry of the original Herge look and style, but it works and you settle into it pretty quickly.  The sword play of the fighting ships is thrilling and visually stunning as Haddock in a sober moment conjures it all up out of the sand. (A purist informs me that actually this all occured in The Land of the Golden Crab with Sir Francis Haddock v the evil Pirate Red Rackham).

The plot is discover, chase, discover, chase, repeat at will.  The secret of lost treasure lurks in the mast of the Unicorn(s) and of course all roads leads to Marlingspike Hall. Character development there is little time for (except Captain Haddock who is a very bad role model indeed in these PC times) but you roll with it and it never lets up.

The attention to detail in the cars, ships and planes is exactly as you would want them to be however and you can see that Spielberg has a true affection for these characters that shines through.

For me The Thompson twins didn’t really get the laughs I would have expected from Simon Pegg and Nick Frost doing the voices, but kids in the audience laughed in all the right places.
This was a slick, machine polished rollercoaster of a movie with some great moments (Captain Haddock almost getting sliced by the propeller, the fight between Sakharin and Haddock with cranes was crazy but fun and I am sure we were all waiting for the dam to burst so ha - it doesn't. Somehow Tin-Tin himself seems to slip away a little, after all he doesn't really get the best lines and in the end it’s Snowy’s movie, of course.

Take the kids and let them discover Tin-Tin afresh under influence of a master filmmaker.

*The next adventure will be directed by Peter Jackson (who was a second unit director on this one) and scripted by Anthony Horowitz

© Sam North Oct 30th 2011
Editor
author of Mean Tide

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