To 40ish-something die hard Tintin fans...

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

I declare myself to be a die-hard Tintin fan. I have been since early childhood. I've always had the entire series of books at hand and over the years must have read each of them literally hundreds of times. I could never get enough.

I've just come back from the Spieldberg/Jackson 3D offering based on "The Secret of the Unicorn".

I'm utterly blown away. As big a fan as I am, I am thoroughly delighted and satisfied - my expectations were far-exceeded. A masterpiece of animation/motion capture that absolutely nails it on the head. The characters, almost never what you've always imagined them to sound like, do - to me, anyway. The rendering is state of the art - there's been nothing better before it. Jackson and Weta are phenomenally talented people.

If you're a fan - go see it in 3D. Don't wait until it's on iTunes or DVD. By all means buy it then too, but see it on the big screen. It's marvellous.

[lacad01 (Adam)]

Thanks for the review Chris. I'm not a huge Tintin fan however this is one movie I definitely want to see this summer

[shelltree (Shelley)]

So glad to hear this Chris, I am also a big Tin Tin fan and am very excited to see this!!!

[SkyViking (Rolf)]

Sounds awesome Tintin rocks and I've been waiting for this movie for a long time now. I'm re-reading my Tintin collection at the moment, for the 100th time, and I'm going to see the movie tomorrow - can't wait!

[Steffen]

I've been a Tintin fan for almost 40 years myself and I went and watched the movie of course. I gave the 3D version a miss though, for me this sort of effect tends to take away from movies rather than add to them.

I found the character and face animation amazing with most of the characters. Snowy disappointed me a bit, as did the Thompson twins. Overall it was a great spectacle and I look forward to the sequel.

EDIT I found opening the movie with Hergé drawing Tintin's portrait a nice touch

Cheers
Steffen.

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

The opening was great, I agree. The Thom(p)son twins were OK, but I always pictured them a little more bumbling. Snowy, I thought, was perfect. His expressions, especially when cowering from the stream of bullets on the stairs, were superb.

In retrospect, the only thing I'd like to have seen was reasonably strict adherence to the content of each separate book, rather than being presented as an amalgam.

[gbeal]

Darn you Oma, you've pushed me into this. I too grew up reading them, all the time, it must be an age thing.
I don't normally "do" movies, I think LOR's was the last one, and only because I was familiar with a fair chunk of the scenery (not that the CGI rendition I saw resembled too much of it, plus the "shire" is about 5 minutes flying from where I live).
This TinTin one though I will go see.
Thanks
Gary

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

Originally Posted by gbeal

Darn you Oma, you've pushed me into this. I too grew up reading them, all the time, it must be an age thing.
I don't normally "do" movies, I think LOR's was the last one, and only because I was familiar with a fair chunk of the scenery (not that the CGI rendition I saw resembled too much of it, plus the "shire" is about 5 minutes flying from where I live).
This TinTin one though I will go see.
Thanks
Gary

Suffer Gary.



Merry Christmas by the way...

[gbeal]

Cruel, cruel Chris. Thank you, and same to you.
T'is a great community this.
Gary

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

Oh yeah... Bianca Castafiore is outstanding

[multiweb (Marc)]

Tintin tragic here too. Sounds great. Next on the todo list.

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

Anyone else seen this yet?

[bartman (Bart)]

Originally Posted by Omaroo

Anyone else seen this yet?

No not yet ,,,,,,but after reading these posts, I might haveta!
Also a fan of TinTin and have several comic books!
Thanks for that Chris!
Bartman

[stephenb (Stephen)]

As another Tintin fan in my 40's I grew up in the 70's and early 80's reading Herge's wonderful books. I borrowed them so much from my school library that the Head Librarian offered the entire library collection to me for a token fee ($2 I think), because I was literally wearing them out. These days I have three sets: the originals, and a complete set in softback and hardback, plus my children are collecting a set now.

The movie? Brilliant! The animation - second to none.

The homage to Herge in the opening scenes (he is the artist in the market who is drawing Tintin) This was a running theme in all Herge's where he drew himself in a cameo scene in his books. This also occurs in the animated TV series.

Notice in the scene in In Bagghar where Bianca Castafiore performs for Omar Ben Salaad, she is flanked by treasures and statues from other books (The Broken Ear statue)?

Also Chris did you see Mr Cutts the Butcher's shop in the first chase scene? So many small references to other adventures.

What I enjoy most about Tintin is the old school boy-type adventure theme: traveling to exotic lands, danger and suspense. I'm a bit of a romantic when it comes to the 30's - 50's and I have always had an interest in European and old Soviet culture, so Tintin's adventures fits in well with all that.

Tintin's adventures take me back to a simpler age of telegrams, rotary-dial phones, fedora hats and traveling by steamships or prop aircrafts.

Check out this interview: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/vid...full-interview

It is long but worth it.

Yes Chris they did deviate from the original books, that was my only disappointment. As you know Professor Calculus was introduced in Red Rackham's Treasure. Rumour is that they will consider The Seven Crystal Balls and Prisoners of the Sun as the next installment. I think there is potential for Destination Moon and Explorers on the Moon also.

Oh and there is an Apple game app also


Regards,
Stephen

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

Great post Stephen I'm going to start reading the whole set again - for the 451st time at least! LOL

I'm glad that someone else picked up on these. Mr Cutts was always a favourite character of mine.

I was a little surprised about the exclusion of the Bird brothers, as in the books it was they, of course, who had bought Marlinspike Hall, and whose wallets (stolen by Silk) contained the second and third maps. Oh well, and Sakharine played only a very minor role in the book. Not to worry, "based on" means just that, and I'm still gloriously happy with the result. I was kind of hoping to see Calculus and his shark mini sub.

Funny story - as I was very young, I never knew that "Calculus" was pronounced as it is until I heard the term at school for the very first time. I remember standing up in class and, correcting the teacher, said "But Sir, it's pronounced "Cal-cull-us"!" I laugh about it to this day.

My favourite (hmmm... there are a few) book was Flight 714, probably because of the reference at the time to Sydney - my home town. I even remember Rastapopoulos' plane (pilot: Skut) had Rolls Royce Turbomeca engines - sighted as the plane was pushed off the makeshift runway by Allan and his henchmen. LOL

I think I'm going to be in Tintin heaven if they produce their takes on both Destination Moon and Explorers on the Moon as a set, as you say, The Seven Crystal Balls and Prisoners of the Sun.

I'm going to see the movie again this week. Maybe tonight. I have to say that Jamie Bell does Tintin's voice justice. He's perfect, and just how I always imagined it.

Thanks for the interview link and app alert. I'll investigate!

[stephenb (Stephen)]

Originally Posted by Omaroo

Great post Stephen I'm going to start reading the whole set again - for the 451st time at least! LOL

I'm glad that someone else picked up on these. Mr Cutts was always a favourite character of mine.

I was a little surprised about the exclusion of the Bird brothers, as in the books it was they, of course, who had bought Marlinspike Hall, and whose wallets (stolen by Silk) contained the second and third maps. Oh well, and Sakharine played only a very minor role in the book. Not to worry, "based on" means just that, and I'm still gloriously happy with the result. I was kind of hoping to see Calculus and his shark mini sub. Funny story - as I was very young, I never knew that "Calculus" was pronounced as it is until I heard the term at school for the very first time. I remember standing up in class and, correcting the teacher, said "But Sir, it's pronounced "Cal-cull-us"!" I laugh about it to this day.

My favourite (hmmm... there are a few) book was Flight 714, probably because of the reference at the time to Sydney - my home town. I even remember Rastapopoulos' plane (pilot: Skut) had Rolls Royce Turbomeca engines - sighted as the plane was pushed off the makeshift runway by Allan and his henchmen. LOL

I think I'm going to be in Tintin heaven if they produce their takes on both Destination Moon and Explorers on the Moon as a set, as you say, The Seven Crystal Balls and Prisoners of the Sun.

I'm going to see the movie again this week. Maybe tonight.

Ha Ha, I was the same with the pronunciation of Calculus!!!! I also said "Cal-Cull-us" !! Until my mother corrected me one day and the whole family laughed at me for ages!

Yes, we are going to see it again today!

Have you read Tintin in Alph-Art? Herge's unfinished book published after his death. Mainly sketches and notes. A great collectable for fans.

Yes, the whole Bird Brothers plot and the fact the Calculus provided the funds to Haddock to purchase Marlinspike Hall would have been good to include. Nevermind.

Destination Moon was the first book I read (1975-ish?) but it is so hard to find a favorite. Perhaps for me The Calculus Affair, King Ottokar's Septre and The Castafiore Emerald, but it is so hard to choose.

Chris I am not a fan of 3D, but I am considering seeing Tintin in 3D today. Convince me it's worth the effort?

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

Originally Posted by stephenb

Chris I am not a fan of 3D, but I am considering seeing Tintin in 3D today. Convince me it's worth the effort?

Ohhh yes. I wasn't expecting much either, but they've used it very subtly and to great effect. The face renderings are incredible, as are the sand dunes and raging ocean scenes. I think I'll see it in 2-D today just for the reference.

I've read Alph-Art, but am yet to get hold of a copy. I recently acquired hard-back copies of the first two books in the series, which were never really popular in my day because they were crude in comparison to the later books - "Tintin in the Land of the Soviets" and "Tintin in the Congo". Black and white and certainly unrefined, but nevertheless his cornerstone books.

[Barrykgerdes]

I hope to see it in Melbourne later this month. I will look for the 3D version and take my 3D glasses that I had to buy last year to see the "Green Hornet"

I also now have a Samsung Smart 3D TV and a couple of 3D movies (they come with a 2D version as well). These of course require the switchmode glasses. 3D maybe a gimmick but I still like it!

They have trailers of 3D movies and some free Docos but My ADSL2 is reputedly not fast enough to view anything over about 2 minutes. I think it is more to do with their server capacity.

For those who think 3D is useless. Get your heads out of the sand it's great fun!

Barry

[stephenb (Stephen)]

Ticket booked for Tintin 3D at 3pm

The last time I watched a movie in 3D was 3 years ago with those cardboard glasses. I didn't think the technology was sufficient at that stage, but I accept it is a lot better now.

When booking the ticket this morning the young girl at the counter tried very hard to dissuade me from Tintin 3D and was imploring me to see Mission Impossible. pffft I told her the animated acting in Tintin would be more realistic than Tom Cruise's.

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

Enjoy

I'd be interested to know Stephen, as a huge Tintin fan, are you also into Asterix? Both fought for my time.