The Adventures of
Tintin (2011) – One of the best things I can say about Steven Spielberg’s Tintin adaptation (the first in a
purported franchise) is that in many ways it’s the “Young Indiana Jones” movie
we never actually got to see. Based on
the iconic comic series by Hergé, this film finds Tintin (Jamie Bell) on an
adventure to uncover lost treasure amid the mystery of identical model
ships. Tintin recruits the help of the
besotted Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis) before the sinister Sakharine (Daniel
Craig) can unearth the secret of the Unicorn. Under Spielberg’s direction (and John
Williams’s rousing score), the comparison to Indiana Jones is particularly apt
because Tintin is littered with
action sequences that require only a fedora and a whip to fit into Indy’s canon;
though the stakes are often quite low (we know, for instance, that Tintin is
untouchable and free from danger), the spectacle Spielberg creates is thrilling
and a treat to watch. The animation style, somewhere near that
“uncanny valley” of digital resemblance, may be off-putting to some viewers,
but I found the quasi-realistic renderings mostly undistracting, adding to the
slightly surreal atmosphere of the movie.
Digitally painting over the actors both approximates Hergé’s style while
allowing actors to take on roles beyond their “type” – casting Simon Pegg and
Nick Frost, for example, as the identical bumbling detectives Thomson and
Thompson is visually unlikely but possible (and fantastic) in Tintin.
All told, Tintin was more fun
than I was expecting, a welcome relief from Spielberg’s recent “heavier” work
and a reminder of the childlike awe his movies can bring. (Not that there’s anything wrong with
“childlike.”)
The Pirates! Band of
Misfits (2012) – In a post-Depp world, we’ve seen an infusion of piratical
adventures featuring swashbucklers of every ilk (even Doctor Who got in on the act with “The Curse of the Black
Spot”). But Band of Misfits is by far the most irreverent, throwing
anachronisms to the wind like so much topsail being unfurled. Rendered in the claymation style popularized
by Wallace & Gromit, The Pirates stars Hugh Grant as the
luxuriantly bearded Pirate Captain, whose quest for the coveted Pirate of the
Year Award is waylaid when Charles Darwin (David Tennant) discovers that the
Pirate Captain’s parrot is actually a presumed-extinct dodo. Along the way, the pirates run afoul of the
pirate vendetta of Queen Victoria (Imelda Staunton), as well as the Pirate King
dressed suspiciously like Elvis. If all
of this sounds like it doesn’t fit, you’d be right, but that’s the brand of
humor served up by director Peter Lord; in typical British fashion, cheekiness
is the order of the day, governed by “It just is” logic. The Pirate Captain is an out-of-type choice
for Hugh Grant, who’s usually more at home as the foppish and awkward elite in
love, but he lends the requisite confidence and swagger to the Captain. Historical buffs may quibble – after all,
Darwin never trained a monkey to speak using an infinite supply of notecards –
but surrender to the ludic whimsy of the film is required. If one can believe it, The Pirates (recently nominated for the Oscar for Best Animated
Film) takes itself less seriously than the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, and that’s such a good thing.That does it for this week’s edition of “Monday at the Movies.” We’ll see you here next week!
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