I have never read the Tintin comics. The adventures of a young boy and his dog don’t really appeal to me all that much. Call me crazy. However, despite my scepticism it is a beloved comic and has run for decades. Even with that haircut.

Motion capture animated films are not the most popular in the entertainment industry. Films like The Polar Express haven’t done terribly but have yielded a mixed reaction from critics and the movie going public. I can understand the feeling. It’s not quite live action, not quite animation and completely strange to watch sometimes.

So when it was announced that they were making a Tintin motion capture animated film you can imagine my apathy. But when I found out who “they” were, it piqued my interest. Written by Steven Moffat (Dr. Who), Edgar Wright (Shaun of The Dead, Hot Fuzz) and Joe Cornish (Attach the Block) and starring Daniel Craig, Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis and a long list of other cool actors. It got my attention.

While it may be a movie made by cool film makers will it still be a good movie? A feature length trailer had arrived to give us a clue so lets take a look.

Watched it? Good, here are my thoughts:

– lol cat

While the “fall over a cat” joke isn’t high on my list of rib-ticklers, the cat itself and it’s face gave me a chuckle.

That’s a face.

– A Face For Comics

Speaking of faces, Tintin ain’t a looker. For our main protagonist, it’s going to be rough staring at this thing for 2 hours. Animated or not, he’s ugly.

And I always thought he was blonde. Was he a ginger in the books?*

– Captain Haddock

First of all, great name. Secondly, look at that nose! Finally, Andy Serkis… yay!

… that is all.

– Spalsh!

Going back to a problem I have with motion capture animation. While it can be great to have realistic movements and such, when you add it to rubbery faces like Capt Haddock’s above it becomes a strange and uncomfortable viewing experience. My brain doesn’t accept it. However there are some great looking effects like the water splashes here.

Very realistic, but it’s a cartoon… but it’s real… but it’s a cartoon…

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Overall, I have to say I’m not exactly blown away by this. While there seems to be plenty of high action pieces and some slapstick comedy thrown in, the trailer is such a mishmash of information that I have no clue what’s going on other than “adventure… and boats!”.

I’d like to keep faith in the people involved with making the film, but whoever made the trailer did a bad job of selling the movie to me. With the sequel already in the works, however, they may not care.

* Turns out it depended on who coloured him. Plenty of images of TIntin as both a ginge and blonde when I google it.