"The Adventures of Tintin" Loses and Gains Going From Page to Screen

The Adventures of Tintin rolls together plot elements from three comic-book adventures starring Tintin, first introduced in 1929 and one of the all-time most iconographic characters in comic art.

After stumbling across a mysterious clue in a model ship, Tintin (voiced by Jamie Bell) bands together with the brawling, bibulous Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis) to assemble directions that lead to a sunken treasure. They're trying to get there ahead of the nefarious Ivan Sakharine (Daniel Craig), whose pirate forebear once tried to lift the booty from Haddock's ancestor. "Some things are easily lost," repeats Tintin in one scene; he's contemplating his latest mystery, but the line could be a critique of the movie's animation.

But Adventures does take advantage of the capacity for unchained camerawork created by today's platoons of CG technicians. Adventures is an awesome movie mechanism, but that awe comes at a cost. It's doubtful that this fading of charm will be noticed when the movie is in riotous, reeling motion.