‘The Adventures of Tintin’ captures our attention, but not our hearts

Based on the popular Hergé comic book series, The Adventures of Tintin is a motion capture 3-D feature that’s bound to appeal more to kids than adults. Director Steven Spielberg’s first foray into animation, it’s action-packed and beautifully animated in parts, but suffers from some disconnected central characters and a blah storyline.

The Adventures of Tintin centers on reporter Tintin’s (Jamie Bell) attempts to unravel the mystery of a ship—the Unicorn. As the film begins, the young journalist purchases a model of the vessel only to discover that the evil Sakharine (Daniel Craig) has an interest in the secrets it contains, namely a slip of paper that holds the secret to the location of a long-lost treasure. In his attempt to obtain the parchment, Sakharine kidnaps Tintin and imprisons him on his ship. Tintin escapes, befriending the drunkard captain Haddock (Andy Serkis), and the two head off to Morocco in the attempt to outrace Sakharine.

As its title implies, there’s a good amount of “adventure” in the movie. Tintin travels by boat and plane, crossing both sea and desert, as he and Captain Haddock take on Sakharine. But perhaps because the movie combines storylines from three different comics, it just doesn’t gel. Tintin doesn’t develop enough of a personality to connect with the audience and Sakharine isn’t over-the-top enough as the menacing antagonist to contrast the overly cleancut amateur sleuth. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost successfully ham it up as two bumbling detectives, but their roles are minimal. In the end, even though he doesn’t have a speaking role, Tintin’s dog Snowy is the film’s most compelling (and smartest) character.

Still, when the movie concludes with a cliffhanger that clearly sets the stage for a sequel (which the film’s producer, Peter Jackson, has said he’ll direct), we heard one kid in the audience say, “I want to see the next one.” We probably won’t be in line with him, but you can bet that plenty of other youngsters will.