One of the most endearing characters from my childhood, now on screen. Expected a lot, but came back a little disappointed. Somehow, with the motion capture animation techniques (where real human characters are fitted with sensors and their every motion and expression captured and mapped to the cartoon figures giving life like movements, gestures and expressions), the cartoon characters became too human to be endearing. With glassy eyes and plastic skin, the characters float in the space between humans and robots, almost like sinister humanoids... (here's an article that talks about The Uncanny Valley, an interesting problem in animation)
Some of the scenes rock - the detailing, the lighting, the technical brilliance behind the animation never ceases to wow me, now that I have myself been dabbling in it at work.The 3D is an unnecessary burden to the eyes, the glasses sit uncomfortably on the nose, the bright cartoons from Herge darken into not-so-exciting hues - wonder if this is the future of cinema - oh god, please give me back my 2D! And when most of the 3D is in-screen, it doesn't really make much sense.
After Avataar, one does expect a lot. In delivering that, Tintin fails. But on its own, not a bad watch - especially if you can catch the 2D version.
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