Film Discussion
Why The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn deserves more love from us
The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, a faithful adaptation of Tintin stories told in the form of beautiful motion-capture animation deserves more love and adoration.
When we talk about the best animation movies we often end up discussing either the Disney classics like The Lion King, Aladdin, or some of Pixar’s modern 3D animation movies like Toy Story movies or Up. One of the movies that hardly ever comes up is Steven Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn.
The Adventures of Tintin was released in 2011 and I still remember how excited I was to watch it on the big screen, having grown up with the animated TV series. After the movie ended, I was in awe of the movie and its animation style. I came out of the theatre, very sure, that it would go down in history as one of the most perfect animated movies ever made. But to my dismay, this film never got the kind of adoration it deserved. I find it incredibly unfortunate that we don’t talk enough about this academy nominated, a technical marvel of a film by arguably the best director Hollywood has seen. So, here I am with my arguments about why this film deserves our love a lot more than it gets.
A Perfect Adaptation of The Crab with the Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn, and Red Rackham’s Treasure.
The Crab with the Golden Claws introduced Tintin and us to Captain Haddock. The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham’s Treasure were some of the best Tintin stories. Using multiple stories as a part of the screenplay helped to introduce new characters and broaden the world of Tintin without over-crowding it with unnecessary subplots. The movie was a delicious concoction of the three stories and brought together their best elements.
State-of-the-art Motion Capture Animation.
The film utilized the motion capture animation style in the most effective way allowing the actors to bring in their A-game and at the same time provide us with beautifully rendered characters. The motion-captured characters such as Tintin, played by Jamie Bell, and Caption Haddock, played by Andy Serkis blended perfectly well with completely animated characters such as Snowy.
The breathless action sequences from start to finish added to the original Tintin stories made the movie more fluid and cinematic. An example of this could be found in one of the earlier sequences when Snowy chases first mate Allan and his goons when they kidnap Tintin.
Comic Realistic and Faithful Character Designs.
It was a pleasant surprise when the first poster of the movie came out. Despite being 3D in nature, the characters had an uncanny resemblance to the original character designs. The decision to keep the design intact was the first sign of something special from Steven Spielberg.
For the fans of the comics and TV series, there were multiple easter eggs thrown in the movie such as Hergé’s special appearance with a cheeky dialogue when he is drawing a portrait of Tintin.
Hergé : “I have to say your face is familiar. Have I drawn you before?”
Tintin : “Occasionally.”
You can spot hand-drawn cartoon side characters from Tintin comic books in the same scene.
Soul and Essence of the original comics.
I have always felt that Tintin's stories were very often intended for adults rather than for children. Mature themes such as kidnapping, drug smuggling, and alcohol addiction have been explored in various Tintin stories. There is always a plot of mystery and suspense in these stories. In the movie version, the history and legacy of Haddocks were explored in detail. It was the genius of the creators to not expose the complete backstory of the Haddock family history, instead do the same in parts. This kept the audience hooked on the mystery.
The characters of Tintin and Captain Haddock were perfectly captured in the movie. Tintin is portrayed as a determined and ever-curious journalist who often ends up in the thick of crime and action.
In my opinion, Captain Haddock had the most significant character arc. We are introduced to him as a drunkard Captain of the ship Karaboudjan, whose control has been taken over by the first mate Allan. He is shown to be a hot-tempered alcoholic and a bit of a naive sea-farer. Despite being proud of this ancestry, he finds himself incapable of living up to the family name. With the help of Tintin, Captain Haddock finds his true purpose, his family home, and the courage to uphold his family legacy. This arc has been beautifully shown in the movie along with his friendship with Tintin.
Final Thoughts
At the risk of sounding like a starry-eyed fan-boy of Tintin comic books, I must say that I found the movie near-perfect, a pinnacle of the animation genre. It was a milestone in motion-captured animation filmmaking and set new standards in this genre. We must cherish this gem of a movie and shower our love.
