Only a true fan could have made this film and director Steven Spielberg completely indulges himself in the world of Tintin and Herge. He often keeps the shot wide or medium which lets the audience view and admire the beautifully animated landscapes and locations. Spielberg must have known the weight of expectation on his shoulders when making the movie, and he never diverts from Herge’s original M.O; adventure, mystery and thrilling action. If you’ve read our interview with Tintinologist Michael Farr, then you’ll know Herge (back in the day) named Spielberg as the man to bring Tintin to the big screen, and it’s done with a huge amount of love and passion.

The Adventures of Tintin is surely the pinnacle of motion capture, and Spielberg treats the technology like an over-excited child with a super 8 camera and a toy set; he fluidly moves the action across scenes and locations and the action set pieces are pure spectacle. In a scene in which Captain Haddock recounts the story of the Unicorn, Spielberg cuts the action between Haddock recounting the story and the actual events in the past. The frame whizzes around at high speeds and cuts effortlessly between both locations, it’s stunning, and the action sequences on board the Unicorn are truly magical, I was in effing awe.

Screenwriters Moffat, Wright and Cornish have freely taken story points from across the Tintin volumes and have created a patchwork quilt of a script, which perfectly matches up to any Herge story. The cast all fill their roles well, and the animators have done a great job re-creating the characters on screen. When it comes to Tintin himself, considering that Herge’s drawings of the boy hero lacked any great amount of detail surrounding his facial features, I thought he looked pretty good in the film. Pegg and Frost also shine as Thompson and Thomson, and Andy Serkis is brilliant barging his way across the scene as Captain Haddock (even if his accent does sometimes drop).

The Adventures of Tintin starts not with a shot of the hero himself, but brilliantly begins with a shot of his creator Herge drawing a portrait of Tintin in a busy market square. The film is littered with little in jokes and trivia, and I will need to see the film again to catch them all. Tintin is pure old school fun, full off adventure, mystery and action. I already know when I will be seeing the film again upon its release, and I cannot wait.

Will Pond.

Also on a side note, Tintinoligist Michael Farr (who we did a recent interview with HERE) will be giving a talk all about Tintin at the Wigmore Hall in central London on October the 22^nd in aid of charity, to apply for tickets and for more information head to www.justgiving.com/sdftintinlecture.

Will Pond.

© Hergé/Moulinsart 2011

We here at GCB are pretty exciting about the new Tintin film coming out later this year, which you can see the trailer for HERE. So in preparation for the film’s release, GCB managed to grab a quick chat with tintinoligist and all round Hergé buff Michael Farr about Tintin, Spielberg and the abominable snowman.

GCB | Hi Michael, Have you seen the new Tintin trailer yet?

Michael | Yes I have, I’m actually speaking about it on the BBC tomorrow. Its quite interesting isn’t it, quite exciting and as action packed as you would expect, a lot more to it than any of the snippets we have previously seen. Captain Haddock’s nose has never looked more bulbous!

GCB | Will you be seeing the film in 3D?

Michael | Yes absolutely, I actually spoke to someone on the production team today and they said it would really add something when watching the film. Hopefully the film will also spread Tintin further and introduce him to places where the books are not so widely read.

GCB | Like in America?

Michael | Yes just like in America, you and I know and love Tintin but there are those out there who do not know him so well, so hopefully this film will catch their attention.

GCB | Tintin has never been as popular in America as he is in Europe, why do you think this is?

Michael | Hergé’s work is very much rooted in realism and this is different to American comics, you can’t have people flying around or climbing up buildings like you do in America, although Hergé did say to me himself that he did go a little too far on one occasion.

GCB | Oh really, which book did Hergé see as going too far?

Michael | He felt that looking back Flight 714 went a little too far with the aliens at the end and the flying saucer, although the book is still highly enjoyable up until that point. But who knows Hergé might be prophetic about Aliens, I certainly think he will be about the abominable Snowman.

GCB | That Tintin meets in ‘Tintin in Tibet’?

Yes, I do believe we will find the Abominable Snowman one day and it will look just like it did in Tintin.

GCB | When the Tintin books were first published they contained images of exotic locations that children and young adults might not of otherwise have seen, but with more resources readily available now do you think this can change the way Tintin could be read now by a reader for the first time?

Michael | That’s a very interesting question, I first read Tintin in French when my father was stationed in Paris, this was in 1957, and I remember waiting eagerly for the next Tintin book, for all the adventure and fun. If you felt the need, you could buy the magazine it was printed in weekly at two pages a time, but I always preferred to wait and get the nicely printed book, I only purchased the magazine out of desperation.

Like you say though, children weren’t exposed to all the things they are now so it might have been more exciting back then. The marvellous thing about Tintin is that you can enjoy the books endlessly even as an adult, when I am asked to speak at schools the children I am talking to see things even I haven’t seen! In fact, it was talking to children that guided me to writing another of my books, Tintin and Co.

GCB | This was a collection of characters?

Michael | Yes my first book sold quite a few copies and I was asked if I wanted to write another, the problem was my first book was Tintin, The Complete Companion, there wasn’t much else to write about! I noticed that when I was talking in schools all the children’s questions were about the characters, so I thought why not take a closer look at them. It was inspired by young people wanting to know why Captain Haddock, why Professor Calculus.

GCB | Do you still own your old Tintin books?

Michael | I do yes, and they are very well thumbed. My father was recalled to London in 57/58 when the books first came out in England so I could also read them in English.

GCB | What do you think makes Tintin so well loved across different continents, countries and languages?

Michael | I love the universal appeal of Tintin and what strikes me is how multicultural Tintin can be. There is a misconception that Tintin is all white and middle class, but that really isn’t the case, at book signings I see many people of different backgrounds and nationalities sharing their enjoyment of Hergé’s work. Tintin is also huge in Africa; they love seeing themselves in the book just like we do when Tintin comes to England in The Black Island.

GCB | You mentioned earlier that you met Hergé, what was he like?

Michael | He was delightful and terribly modest, when I first met him he was very young for 71, you would have thought he was 20 years younger. We first had lunch when I was supposed to be interviewing him but it was a disaster, he kept turning around and interviewing me, he hated talking about himself. He didn’t really care for celebrity he was just so terribly modest, he was most interested in other people and other things; he asked me what I thought about Pink Floyd! Can you imagine, how hip can you get at 71.

GCB | So he had a wide range of interests outside writing and comics?

Michael | Certainly yes, he had a passion for the cinema. You see, he lived in Brussels during the First World War and his mother took him to the cinema, it was one of the few forms of entertainment. He was terribly interested and influenced by the early Hitchcock films; you can really see that influence in his work, like in The Black Island. It’s really very good that Stephen Spielberg is directing the new Tintin film since Hergé was also a great admirer of his work.

GCB | I never knew Hergé was a secret Spielberg fan, do you know which Spielberg films he had seen?

Michael | The first Spielberg film he saw was an early one called “Duel” and he was very struck by it, he made a note 3 months before his death saying ‘if one person can bring Tintin to the screen it’s this young American director’ he didn’t actually name Spielberg, but he meant him.

GCB | What are you reading? Do you still read many comics?

Michael | Well I do keep up with many new titles, I often see them when I go to comic conventions, like the one in Barcelona or Copenhagen, and I find that very interesting as a learning process, very exciting. My passion though is for Hergé and he really is an influence on many artists. For me he is the pinnacle, I enjoy seeing how he has influenced both late artists and contemporary artists.

GCB | Do you think there is still an interest for Tintin in new readers?

Michael | Well I went to Brussels after Hergé had only passed away a few months previously, and everyone in the studio was waiting to find out what his will said about the future of Tintin, but I’m not sure if you know that the will said no one could continue producing Tintin past his death, and people were devastated and worried that everyone would forget about Tintin in 5 years time, but look at it now 30 years later we are still talking about Tintin and more and more books are being sold in an increasing number of languages.

Thanks for talking to us today Michael, it’s been a blast.

Egmont Press (who also publish Tintin) will be releasing Michael Farr’s ace ‘Tintin, The Complete Companion’ with loads of cool new stuff in the autumn.

Adventure: CHECK!
Mystery and suspense: CHECK!
Tintin walking straight into danger: CHECK!
Thompson and Thomson being Thompson and Thomson: CHECK!
And best of all, Captain Haddock being drunken and surly: CHECK!

The movie officially looks awesome sauce (and you heard that here first) have a look at the trailer below and keep checking back to GCB for further updates…

invisible words

The story starts the same as pretty much any other Tintin book… With his trustful fox terrier Snowy at his side, our intrepid young reporter wanders straight into trouble within the first few pages! At a market stall in his native Belgium, Tintin comes across a model of a ship thinking it to be the perfect present for his friend Captain Haddock. After purchasing the model, two mysterious gentlemen step forward and try to forcibly buy it from Tintin, but he refuses to sell and heads home. Back at his flat, Snowy knocks over the model and breaks the mast and once Captain Haddock arrives he is amazed to find it is a replica of a ship his ancestor used to command before suffering at the hands of a vicious pirate attack. I would usually give slightly more of the plot away here, but I am worried that to say more would ruin this brilliant story.

In a first for Herge the plot is spread out over two books, allowing the action to move at a slower pace than usual. The scenes are much longer, and the dialogue is fleshed out a great deal with some brilliant exchanges (an aspect of Tintin that is often overlooked). Eventually though, Herge’s writing does come back to default mode and he finishes the action with an exciting chase through Marlinspike Hall (which Tintin will later move into with Captain Haddock) with gangsters armed with guns and fierce dogs hot on Tintin’s tail.

Lets face it, deep down we all really just want to wake up in the morning and walk into an adventure by lunch time, and if you don’t feel this, then I don’t think you’d be cut out for Tintin. The Secret of the Unicorn has maybe the most sophisticated narrative structure of any Tintin book; Herge’s masterful grasp of adventure is clearly on display as he slowly weaves together a story full of mystery and suspense. Although the action is limited to Belgium (the location where Tintin is based is never actually confirmed as Belgium, but it’s a pretty good bet it is!) Herge uses this to his advantage by having the book finish as an expedition is being planned, you’re really not going to get away with not reading the next book…

The artwork is very impressive, drawn in the same clear Herge style, with vivid colours jumping out from every page. In maybe my favourite sequence in the book, Captain Haddock recounts the tale of his ancestor and a pirate attack on his ship. Unusually for Herge, the action is cut between both Haddock becoming more and more animated as the tale unfolds and a flashback to the events happening, giving the perfect opportunity to draw some beautifully detailed images of a ship on the high seas. Herge was near obsessive about researching all elements of his books down to the smallest detail, and this can be seen not just in the image below but also in all his work.

The Secret of the Unicorn was Herge’s favourite book of his own work, and also his first double length story. Tintinoligist Michael Farr (best job title in the world ever?) has described it as Tintin’s last great detective adventure. The book is full of classic Herge humour but also compelling and adventurous, spreading the action out over two books leaves Herge the space to fully flesh out the characters he would have left in the background before, and lets the plot run at a slower pace than usual. This most definitely gets a rating of awesome sauce.

Next, I’ll be reviewing the second part of the adventure; Red Rackham’s Treasure, so keep your eyes peeled… That’s a rather disturbing phrase isn’t it? Keeping your eyes peeled. Have you ever seen that youtube video of a laser eye surgery? Some eye peeling goes on in that, it’s gross – ED.

Will Pond.