Tintin - The Secret of the Unicorn

For a person like me whose primary email id is one of the most famous swear words in the history of comic books, watching Tintin - The Secret of the Unicorn was mandatory. And I absolutely loved it

While this may not be Spielberg's numero uno output till date, it still is one of the flawless paradigms of the man much celebrated craft. The entire movie is an adaptation, which means, it is a fairly unique story which draws unto itself characters, situations and most critically mannerisms from the original Tintin books. The story is a mix of two or three books namely "Secret of the Unicorn" & "Red Rackham's Treasure". One gets to see Tintin, Snowy, Captain Haddock, Thompson & Thomson, Bianca Castafiore and a few sidekicks Nester, Mrs Finch. Here I shall share my impressions of the film as a whole and each of the characters

The Film - As an entire package, it scores well. The new elements in the storyline are very interesting but crucially for purists like me, very Tintin like. What I mean by that is, it almost feels like Herge (pronounced Errzhe) wrote it himself. This is a film which the kids will adore. During the entire period of 109 mins, kids were laughing and clapping, especially towards the end, when Tintin & Co pull off an incredibly unbelievable chase sequence (seen in 3D its even better) which is where I see Spielberg's genius. There is also one more important point, this film should also appeal to the non Tintinized world. It is very simple to follow and understand. While aficionados would look for subtleties (and there are plenty!), walk in audience would love the adventure and animation. The only negative, if at all, is the lack of dearest of all dears Prof Cuthbert Calculus and the indomitable Rastapopulous. Maybe there would be a sequel.

Tintin & Snowy - Both very nicely depicted. Spielberg has taken care to visually represent Tintin as close to the print version as the freedom of film making would allow. I particularly liked the screen presence given to Snowy. He has been made as central to the plot as Tintin & Haddock. He enjoys several seconds of solitary focus on the frame, which again I liked a lot. Herge would have certainly wanted it that way too :-)

Archibald Haddock - His entry is a tad late in the film and he is not at his best. But again, since this is the relatively older story adaptation where Tintin & Haddock meet for the first time, we really wont get to see what Haddock is capable of. Having said that, the script still does ample justice to his famed drinking, lunatics and how can I ever forget swearing. Yeah! he does say Ten Thousand Thundering Typhoons.

Thompson & Thomson - I absolutely loved them. They have been given a fair bit of screen presence and as usual they hog the limelight. Again, just like Haddock, this storyline does not give enough latittude for them to really demonstrate what they are capable of. The scene with the pickpocket is hilarious. I had a riot laugh.

Bianca Castafiore - Castafiore's character and role has been very deftly woven into the script, which is what pleased me essentially. She has not been 'forcefully' introduced just to please the Tintin fans worldover. What was missing, though, was Castafiore & Haddock's jugalbandi. They dont speak to each other at all :-(

In summary, the film has my thumbs up. Go watch it. Doesn't matter if you are a kid of seven or seventy.