Growing up, the Tintin books got me through a lot of hard times, and when I found out I wasn't alone in finding solace within the pages Herge spent decades creating, I was overjoyed. Entire generations of people all over the world were, at various times through their lives, affected by the startlingly precise, layered and compelling stories in which Tintin, Captain Haddock, Snowy, Thompson and Thomson, Professor Calculus, General Alcazar and a slew of others flit through nimble, perfectly structured detective stories.
Because that's what Tintin is, really: a detective. Technically, he's an investigative reporter, freelance, from Belgium. But part of his universal appeal is his simultaneously noble and borderline pigheaded pursuit of the truth; one gets the impression that even if he wasn't a reporter, he'd still seek out wrongdoing and expose it to the light. He is unwaveringly brave, an excellent marksman, has superb deductive skills, and is a forgiving but unerring judge of character; he places his complete faith in his best friend, Captain Haddock, and in his dog Snowy. But he performs a kind of social juggling act with the terrifyingly inept Interpol agents, Thompson and Thomson, allowing them to blunder about on their own, and using their contacts when needed.
But if you grew up reading Tintin, or even watching the animated series, you'll know all of this. And if you're one of these fortunate people, you'll no doubt already have fairly strong opinions about The Adventures of Tintin. And when someone takes something that formed a fairly pivotal role in your life, and reinterprets it for a global audience, there's always the chance that you'll leave the cinema grinding your teeth so hard that dogs within a three mile radius begin howling a mangled cacophony of what sounds a bit like 'Elevation' by U2.
And many critics already feel this is the case; they feel that 'their' Tintin has been pulverised into something unrecognisable. But Tintin doesn't belong to any one person; Herge created Tintin for everyone, and my Tintin (which, incidentally, is totally dark and sublime and far more nuanced than yours) is never going to be what appears on the big screen. Neither is yours. And you know what? That's fine. Suck it up. The Adventures of Tintin is just someone else's take on the heroic exploits of the heroes you know and love. Or, more accurately, the heroes you think you know and love, because in reality, it's probably been many years since you even picked up a Tintin story.
This particular spin on Tintin (or 'Spintin', if you're a total jerk) is directed by Steven Spielberg, and produced by Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings). It has a screenplay by Steven Moffat (of Doctor Who fame) Edgar Wright (of Spaced, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and Scott Pilgrim fame) and Joe Cornish (writer of The Adam and Joe Show). The voice cast are equally accomplished; Jamie Bell (Billy Elliott) voices Tintin, Andy Serkis (Gollum from Lord of the Rings, and patron saint of motion capture actors) brings Haddock to life, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (see Edgar Wright) do Thompson and Thomson, and Daniel Craig (the latest James Bond) fills the shoes of our villain.
The film effectively combines and reinterprets the events which take place in the books The Crab With The Golden Claws, and The Secret of the Unicorn. Tintin purchases a model ship from a street vendor, takes it home, and ends up having it stolen from him. Eventually, he chases various leads and meets Captain Haddock; the two strike up a fast, if not ungainly friendship, and begin a race towards a treasure hidden by one of Haddock's descendants. Where people are going to take issue with this film (read: cry about it like entitled babies) is in the filler. You see, the books aren't enough to fill 107 minutes of screen time, and the filmmakers have decided to pepper the movie with far more action sequences than you might remember; there are some spectacularly long chases, filled with explosions, nail-bitingly close shaves, drunken near-misses and flagrantly unbelievable stunts.
But as far as this lifelong Tintin reader is concerned, none of this compromises the spirit of the source material. The Adventures of Tintin is vastly different from the books on which it is based; it's almost Darwinian, like it's evolved away from it's distant ancestors. But Tintin retains all the qualities which make him great. Haddock is still a bumbling drunk - and for those of you who maintain that here, he's not the Haddock they remember, I'd like to insist you go back and read the first two books he appeared in, in which he was an absolute wreck. It was his ongoing adventures with Tintin which sobered him up and made him truly great. Snowy doesn't talk like he did in the comics, but he retains the intelligence he always had. In effect, it's a total revamp of the Tintin mythos, replete with surreal action sequences and liberal lashings of slapstick, but it manages to convey the core values of Tintin without, I feel, compromising what made the characters so vital.
The animation is breathtaking. I'm aware that 3D is a truly frustrating phenomenon for many people, and I'll even acknowledge that it's very likely a cinematic blind alley, but here, it works. It's not essential in any way, shape or form, but it works. The characters benefit from motion capture more than I can express in words, and were it not for the trademark Herge exaggerated noses or moustaches borne by characters, you'd think you were watching real people.
It's not going to be universally loved, but to be frank, my tolerance for childishly stalwart 'devotees' whose inability to cope with a new spin on an old classic, such as Tintin, is in pretty short supply. I left the cinema grinning like an idiot, and the entire row behind me, made up of middle aged Belgians proudly waving flags, walked out of the screening clapping one another on the back, bobbing around me joyfully like giddy balloons. If that's not a ringing endorsement from a die-hard fan, I don't know what is.
- Four stars
The Adventures of Tintin opens in cinemas on Boxing Day.