Summer Movie Night 02: The Adventures of TinTin (2011)

It’s Summer Vacation and time to catch up on some of the shows and movies we have been meaning to see. Life during the school year can be quite busy with both a college professor and a high school student in the house, so it is nice to settle in for an hour or more over dinner and enjoy a movie all together as a family.

Tonight’s movie was TinTin, directed by Stephen Spielberg, produced with Peter Jackson and written by current Doctor Who producer, Steven Moffat. I was interested in the movie for a variety of reasons. There is the style of animation, which I can only describe as comic realism, the writer, director and producer involved and the fact that it looked like a fun romp. It was indeed that, although the ending was a bit unsatisfying, setting up for a possible sequel more than truly ending the film.

TinTin, and his creator, Hergé are much more well known in Europe, where they are a cultural phenomenon in most countries. There is an excellent documentary called “TinTin and I” that explores the history and impact of TinTin, too, if you can locate it to watch.

Where to Watch TinTin:

More on TinTin, the original comics:

“The Adventures of Tintin (French: Les Aventures de Tintin) is a series of comic albums created by Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi (1907–1983), who wrote under the pen name of Hergé. The series is one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century, with translations published in more than 50 languages and sales of more than 200 million copies as of 2003.[1]

The series first appeared in French on 10 January 1929 in Le Petit Vingtième, a children’s supplement to the Belgian newspaper Le XXe Siècle. The success of the series saw the serialised strips published in Belgium’s leading newspaper Le Soir and spun into a successful Tintin magazine. In 1950, Hergé created Studios Hergé, which produced the canonical series of twenty-four Tintin albums. The Adventures of Tintin have been adapted for radio, television, theatre, and film.

The series is set during a largely realistic 20th century. Its hero is Tintin, a young Belgian reporter. He is aided by his faithful fox terrier dog Snowy (Milou in the original French editions). Later, popular additions to the cast included the brash and cynical Captain Haddock, the highly intelligent but hearing-impaired Professor Calculus (French: Professeur Tournesol), and other supporting characters such as the incompetent detectives Thomson and Thompson (French: Dupont et Dupond). — Wikipedia.org

More information on TinTin: