Movie Review: The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (Cinema 3D)

For some time now, many of our childhood icons (in books, TV shows and so on) have been rebooted and brought back to life in a film with CGI elements into it. Some have done well but others not so well. In the case of Tintin, its more or less based on the comic books of the same name and the TV show as well. Many British actors have given up their time towards this film and it certainly paid off. Does it bring back our childhood memories in good form or is it another bad film based on retro franchises? Let's find out:

SPOILERS!!!!

So after a silent set of distributors and a amusing title sequence, we then enter a British market where Tintin is having a self portrait of himself done (which has a likeness to his comic book self) and Snowy (Tintin's pet dog) has spotted a pick pocketer stealing various wallets in an amusing fashion. Tintin then pays for his portrait and then goes to find Snowy. After finding him, Tintin then sees a model ship called the unicorn and the man selling it will give it to him for £2. Tintin negotiates with the man and gets it for a £1. Another man then comes and warns Tintin that if he doesn't give the ship to him, Tintin will be in grave danger. Tintin declines and another man (presumably the man that Tintin was warned about) comes and asks Tintin for it but again Tintin declines. As Tintin leaves, the second man asks for Tintin's name. Upon returning home, Tintin decides to study the boat before being disturbed by Snowy and a cat which after a serious chase, breaks the ship. Snowy then spots something coming out of the ship and trys to get Tintin to have a look but Tintin isn't happy so he declines. One of the men from earlier, arrives and warns Tintin even more about the boat but then gets shot presumably from the other man's allies. Calling Thomson and Thomson (the police force) to the scene, the man then tries to write in blood a clue to where Tintin must go to continue his treasure hunt. Before that however, Tintin's boat is then stolen and Tintin knows who it could be and judging from the clue he's been given, he then goes to a house which is being guarded by a dog which Snowy manages to calm down while Tintin enters the house and finds the ship. He then gets knocked out by the second man's butler and as it turns out, there is more than one ship. Upon returning to his house, Tintin discovers that its in a mess but at the same time, finds the clue that Snowy was trying to tell him and he puts it in his wallet. Tintin spots the attacker in a car and tries to catch him but fails and is rescued by Tom and Thom. But then the pick pocketer gets Tintin's wallet and the gang try to catch him but fail. Tintin then gets a delivery which then has him in a box and going onto a ship to the next destination of another model ship. Snowy follows the car Tintin is in and manages to get on board and rescue Tintin. The second man from earlier (who is revealed to be called Ivan) finds out that Tintin is escaping and wants him dead so he sends his men to do just that. Tintin then manages to get into another prisoner's quarters who is revealed as Haddock and with Snowy, the two of them get what they need (Alcohol for Haddock and Clues and a distress signal for Tintin) and escape. Ivan isn't happy with this and has a search plane to go and look for them. Meanwhile back in Brussels (Tintin's home town) Tom and Thom finally arrest the pick pocketer and take a flight to the place that the shot man was telling Tintin (in blood) to go to. Tintin and Haddock then shoot the search plane down and hijack it for a faster route to the next destination of a model ship. They then hit a storm and eventually land in the middle of a desert. To find out more about the treasure, Tintin asks Haddock if he was an ancestor of the great Sir Francis Haddock and Haddock then tells the story of how Sir Francis and Red Rackham (Ivan's ancestor) went into an epic battle to save one's skin and treasure and also the tradition that a Haddock has (which is "There's always a trick up their sleeves"). Part of the story is explained in the desert until some military forces rescue Tintin, Haddock and Snowy and take them to one of their bases for protection. Haddock then says that he doesn't know Tintin the following day, so Snowy gets a jug of alcohol and has Haddock drink it in order for him to continue with the story with some actions put in. Tintin, Haddock and Snowy then go the the town where Ivan and his men are to get the ship and the third scroll ( the other ones being with Tintin and Ivan). Thom and Tom meet Tintin and Haddock in town to give Tintin his wallet back (which contains the scroll in Tintin's possession). Haddock and Tintin then attend a opera where the third ship and scroll are and then its a fight between Tintin and Ivan to get the scrolls in a big action packed chase. Ivan succeeds but Tintin has an idea up his sleeve and uses a radio transmitter from Tom and Thom to find out where the ship is headed and return to Brussels where Haddock fights Ivan in a crane fight which then has the two of them on a ship in a 1 on 1 battle before Ivan wins and claims the scrolls as his. But his victory is short lived as Tintin enters the fray and nabs the scrolls from Ivan who then falls into the water only to be arrested by Thom and Tom shortly after. Tintin and Haddock then use the coordinates on the scrolls to find the treasure which takes them to the house earlier on. Haddock knows that there are two cellars and Snowy then manages to find one of them which has Sir Francis's hat of gold and piece of paper presumably for another treasure hunt. The film then ends after that.

While the animation throughout the film was OK, the story to start with was a bit hard to follow but eventually gets there in the end. The possibility of a sequel is likely to happen but probably not for a while. 8/10 (and by the way, it was the 3D version that I saw just so you know).