If you look to the right you will see links to the Tintin Movie Store. You can purchase all the Tintin books, posters, DVDs and many other things with just the click of a mouse.
Tintin Comics Hardback, three stories in one volume
I love Tintin. Growing up with dyslexia meant that I always struggled with written words so discovering Tintin was revelation. The beautiful images and fast moving, boys-own style adventures made Tintin’s world real to me in a way that a book never could. Over the years I have revisited Tintin many times and got something new out of it each time but one of the things I’ve pick up is that Tintin isn’t written very well. Before I get ripped to shreds by rabid fans, I need to be clear about what is wrong with Herge’s writing and why this could result in some terrible films.
I’ve got Secret of the Unicorn
This chain of coincidences stretches credibility. Its a large coincidence that Tintin would happen to buy a model ship sailed by Captain Haddock’s ancestor but one that can be swallowed. However that he buys it just before the two other interested parties also discover it purely by chance is stretching credibility. Add on the whole pick pocket angle and the coincidences become too large. Rather than build a credible, coherent plot, Herge’s has chosen to hang everything on a series of coincidences. This might be a deliberate and clever style of plot construction but it strikes me as bad or lazy writing that posses all sorts of problems for making a Tintin movie.
The Tintin movies are being made now because the first time, technology allows the film makers to create a real universe and not just an animated version of Herge’s art. This would not matter if it wasn’t for the success of the Harry Potter and the Narnia films. Studios have seen that creating a faithful, high quality adaptation of a children’s book can draw in lots of adults and not just those with kids. This poses the makers with two problems. Firstly they have to make a faithful adaptation of the books and secondly they have to make a good film that appeals to adults who aren’t not die-hard fans of the books. With the Harry Potter and Narnia films they achieved this but can it be done with Tintin?
I don’t think they can. What mainstream film’s plot is so dependent on coincidences as in The Secret of the Unicorn? None. Sure, in action sequences you see heros dive out of windows and just happen to land in a pile of boxes but that isn’t the same thing. Audiences accept that because it makes the film exciting and dynamic. Coincidences that drive the plot are something else entirely. This leaves the film makers two options. Change the plot and nature of Tintin (thus angering the fans) or just do a faithful adaptation (thus alienating the non-fans). Neither of these option will make a good film.
Once the film makers start altering Tintin to fit the big screen, as they must, I think the magic of Tintin will unravel. What makes the Tintin books so enjoyable is the farcical nature of the plots but I don’t think these will work on the big screen. Modern films, even children’s films, are relatively complex where as Tintin, despite the busy and detailed artwork, have a simplicity to them. To recreate the magic of Tintin on the big screen the makers of the Tintin movie have to get a square peg into a round whole. Jackson and Spielberg are great directors but this may be beyond even their talents.
Official Tintin page. Its a horrbile flash interface but comes in multiple languages.
Wikipedia on Tintin and the Tintin Movie.
Tintinologist is great site covering all things Tintin. It has news, articles, forums, galleries of Tintin related photos and lots more.
Tintin Movie on IMDB. No details yet.
Squidoo: Tintin Movie
Webjam: Tintin
Community Site: Boyreporter
According to Variety, three books have been selected as the basis of the Tintin movies. But which three? The books were mostly written and set in the 1930’s to 1950’s and not many of them will update. Destination Moon and Explorers on the Moon seem pointless 40 years after Neil Armstrong first walked there. Many of the books have social or cultural aspects that are not popular nowadays such as The Blue Lotus which is heavily anti-Japanese and the Crab with the Golden Claws is about oil and the middle east. Other books just won’t work as popular films, e.g. The Castafiore Emerald in which nothing happens.
Here is my guesses at the three Tintin movies
Peter Jackson’s WETA Digital is the Oscar winning digital effects studio created by Peter Jackson for the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Based in New Zealand that have reportedly already created a 20 minute show reel of how the Tintin movie might look.
Dreamworks is Steven Spielberg’s animation and production company and is probably most famous for the Shrek films. Expect the Tintin movie to be as visual rich as Shrek but with far more of the photorealistic detail found in the Lord of the Rings films.
Kathleen Kennedy is a long time colleague of Steven Spielberg having been producer or executive producer on at least half his films since ET. She was Oscar nominated for her work on Munich, Seabiscuit, The Sixth Sense, The Color Purple and E.T.. She hasn’t worked on pure CGI films though War of the Worlds and other Spielberg films have featured large amounts of CGI. Whether her production skills will transfer into the purely virtual film making required by the Tintin movies will have to be seen.
Kathleen Kennedy on IMDB
One of the greatest living film directors, probably the most successful ever, he has been behind more blockbusters than anyone else. His films, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Indiana Jones, ET, Jurassic Park and Saving Private Ryan have all had a huge impact on popular culture and set high standards in film making. On the downside he can be horribly smultzy with lovable small children and heavy handed moralizing. His track record of adaptations, e.g. Jaws, Schindler’s List, War of the Worlds and Minority Report, shows that he has an understanding of the sources though he is not afraid to pull the key aspects of the story out and rework everything around them. Whatever Spielberg’s Tintin movie comes out like, we can be assured of high production values and great sense of mainstream entertainment.
Full details of Spielberg (but not of the Tintin movies yet) on IMDB.
Jackson is a director with vision and the drive to get that vision on screen. Starting with Bad Taste, a low budget aliens-takening-over-a-small-town-and-eating-everyone horror film, Jackson has known what he wanted to get on the screen. His latest films, the oscar winning Lord of the Rings and the lavish, 3 hour remake of the King Kong show that he can sensitively handle his source materials which is good news for Tintin fans worried about the movie.
Full filmography on IMDB (though they don’t have anything about the Tintin movie yet): Peter Jackson
Explore the world of the Tintin Movie.
