While it’s still two months off for those us living in Australia or the United States, Europe is about to get Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson’s “The Adventures of Tintin” dropped on them in coming weeks.
Over the weekend though, the embargo was lifted on press reviews and the word is very good, even from the usually tough French critics who would be more than happy to skewer Spielberg and co. if the film made a mockery of the beloved Belgian comic. Premiere calls it a masterpiece. Jeuxactu gives it 5/5, L’Express a 4/5. Cinemateaser gives it a 4.5/5 and says it contains “irresistible humor, a love for cinema, experimental (narrative and visual) techniques and a genuine respect for Hergé”.
Amongst the Brits, a rather verbose review in Empire gives it a 4/5 and has high praise for Andy Serkis’ performance as Haddock, the animation, the action, and more with special love for all its throwbacks to classic European cinematic style. They call it a film that shows “the romance of old-school cinema, conjured by the slick synthesis of CG wizardry”.
The few problems they have with it are the same ones that Total Film mentions in their 3/5 review (the most negative one thus far). The big issue is that it might be too manic, the pace is so fast and the focus is so much on going from one action set piece to the next that the story never finds the time to quieten down or give us a “strong emotional hook” – making it more of a fun escapist adventure for kids than something more emotional in their words.
They do however have highly praise “an up, down and all-around chase sequence executed in one impossible, continuous shot that brings the excitement to a dizzy peak”. Numerous reviews praise Spielberg’s virtual camera work and the “sublime opening credits”.
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