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TINTIN: SECRET OF THE UNICORNAs a parent I don’t alwaysexpect to like the films I takemy children to see. After all,they’re aimed at children,aren’t they? Often, I’m right.Despicable Me was dreadful,Cars 2 was a car crash, andas for Gnomeo and Juliet?Well, don’t get me started!

However, I am sometimessurprised by the quality ofkids’ movies. I cried all theway through Toy Story 3, andI thought Tim Burton’s Alicein Wonderland was visuallysplendid – great costumes,and fantastic effects.

So which category did Tintinfit into? Well, I’d have to saythe second – it wasthoroughly enjoyable, forthree very different reasons.

The first was its storyline.Based very closely on theoriginal books, the story wasdetailed, eventful andcomplex. It required my fullattention for the entire hourand fifty minutes. Therewere several exciting setpieces, too, and I particularlyenjoyed Captain Haddock’svivid memory of hisancestor’s fight againstpirates. Another highlightwas the destruction of a townas Haddock accidentally fireda rocket into the wall of adam, causing a torrent ofwater to race down the hill.

The second reason I enjoyedit was because it kept mychildren utterly absorbed for

the whole time. You can tellwhen a film is bad; kids fidgetlike a dog with fleas, or askloudly to go to the toilet, orstart rummaging annoyinglyinto the snack bag. OnSunday, they stared at thescreen, barely rememberingthey had sweets and drinkson their lap. That’s worth theprice of the ticket!

Tintin is based on a set ofcartoon books, so of coursethe film had to be animated,and this brings me to my thirdreason for enjoying it.Spielberg didn’t try to copythe original style. He createdhis own computer generatedlook, although there were afew references to Herge’soriginals (Tintin has hisportrait drawn at the start,and it’s just like the books).The detail of the images wasincredible, like Snowy’s furblowing in the breeze, orHaddock’s wrinkled eyes.Spielberg also created somebeautiful cross fades, whereone scene ended and thenext began. My favouritewas when Haddock andTintin were in the desert,staring at miles of sanddunes. Haddock begantelling the story of his great-grandfather’s ship and as hespoke the ship appeared andthe dunes slowly morphedinto huge waves.

All in all, I’d say that this is afilm which will be as popularwith parents as with kids.Definitely worth going to see!

Film Review

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