Tin Tin and Cycles

It's funny how my viewing and reading habits go in cycles. I haven't read a middle grade or YA novel in a while but I've been watching kids' movies like crazy. I just went to check out The Adventures of Tin Tin on Monday. It was one of those days I just love--sitting in an almost empty theater in the middle of the day, eating popcorn and watching an adventure.

A vaguely remember something about Tin Tin when I was a kid. The image of his button nose and quaffed hair definitely rang a bell when I saw him on the screen. Really, I am too young to have any emotional connection to the character. He's more of a Stephen Spielberg era thing. But this version of Tin Tin, as opposed to my fuzzy memory, was very much modernized in comparison.

To begin with, the computer graphics were amazing. Sometimes they were to the point that the characters looked remarkably real. I imagine the production team really had to discuss just how close to reality they wanted to get. Tin Tin actually looked like a real young man, as opposed to his very two dimensional comic strip counterpart, and his dog looked absolutely petable.  I'm guessing that they used an animation technique called motion capture--where live actors put on special suites that are tracked by digital camera systems that the artists then animate--because the movement of the characters was stunning.

Now, as far as 3D goes, I think I've been spoiled. After watching the amazing cinematography in Hugo, I was expecting at least as good from a Stephen Spielberg film, but, alas, the 3D was just okay. Much better than the 3D of three years ago, but just okay.

Although it was a rollicking good time, the story did leave me wanting a little more. From the beginning, I just kept asking myself why Tin Tin was so determined. He didn't seem to have much at stake in the whole caper (which I won't spoil for you here) and I'm assuming that the original stories didn't dive very deeply into why Tin Tin is as tenacious as he is. I found the story of the sea captain more intriguing than Tin Tin's place in it.

All-in-all, it was a good way to spend an afternoon. I don't bemoan the money spent and that's always a good sign.

But as always, what did you think?

The Adventures of Tin Tin on IMDB