Watch the First Trailer for The Adventures of Tintin
The first trailer for The Adventures of Tin Tin doesn't so much explain, well, anything, as it does establish a first look at the unique visual world director Steven Spielberg created for the motion-captured adventure. Otherwise? Spielberg and Paramount Pictures have a lot of work to do to introduce the Belgian boy hero to American audiences.
The teaser trailer reveals very little in the way of plot but offers a look at the world that Tintin (and his dog, Snowy) inhabit. Shadowy basements, darkened alleyways, sparkling ocean vistas, and treacherous sand dunes create cohesive sprawling environments for the characters of original novelist Hergé's comic books to go adventuring in.
That's all fine and well until you see the CG/mo-capped characters thrown into the mix, which is when this Tintin trailer begins to feel like an edited reel of video game cut scenes. (Jamie Bell voices/plays protagonist Tintin alongside Andy Serkis as Captain Haddock, plus Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and Daniel Craig rounding out the cast.) The character designs evoke the comics, but the sense that there's life behind their eyes feels incomplete. More problematic: Even after watching it twice, I still have no idea what's going on in this story.
Admittedly that can be fixed down the road with additional trailers, but for a first-look reel that should have piqued interest more than it raised questions, was this first Tintin trailer a smart way to go? Spielberg and his Tintin crew have months ahead of them to raise awareness for the Christmas 2011 release, so here's hoping the next wave of marketing materials make more sense.
For a high-res verson, head to Apple.
[via Apple, Cinemablend]
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Comments
The character designs DON'T resemble the comics. Other than the clothing really. And I think that's why they play so coy with not showing faces.
The character designs from the comics are very cartoonish and these are like...weird hybrids of Herge and Astro Boy meets Zemeckis' Beowulf.
It reminds me of when an artist does a "realistic" drawing of a comic book character, no matter how well drawn, it always comes off weird and kind of creepy. As someone who grew up on the Herge books, that's the vibe I get from this trailer. Kind of weird and more than a little creepy.
Had they stayed true to the character designs of the book instead of going for photorealistic, they would have been able to get away with more. Instead they dove headfirst into the uncanny valley.
More creepy mo-capped animation... Didn't Spielberg learn anything from Bob Zemeckis?
Tintin isn't French, he's Belgian! If Hercule Poirot were here, his mustache would be indignant!
Tintin's got that Tilda Swinton look goin on in that last shot.
Made a few clarifications. Of course Tintin is Belgian, books in French.
Resemble -> evoke, the character designs are recognizable even through the weird Zemeckis-like treatment. Here's hoping the 6 months they have left to work on this are well spent.
What a tragedy this is. As soon as I heard they were going for Motion Capture, I was worried. But it's Spielberg, I thought. Oh yeah, he hasn't made a good movie since 1997 and hasn't made a great movie since 1993. In fact everything he has done recently hasn't just been okay, it's been laughably terrible (War of the Worlds? The Terminal? Munich? I never thought Munich would be a comedy, but there he was making us all laugh by intercutting a sex scene with a massacre. One of those, so bad it's funny moments).
Tintin is the absolute best teenage hero of all time. ALL TIME. And instead we get robot Tilda Swinton. And don't expect to be happy when you finally see Capt. Haddock. The photos they released have him not as an old weary captain, but as a giant nosed idiot. How can Herge's simple drawings emote so much more than these overdone images.
And there's really no hope here. When they release a trailer that shows no faces until the last moment, no one speaking, and no "motion captured acting". Then there isn't any. Cause if there was, they would have shown it.
Poor younger generation. You have been screwed again. Although, really you are the idiots who went to see Avatar's crappy MoCap ten times each.
Alright, Jake. You can be as bitter and hateful as you want regarding this TinTin adaptation, but saying Avatar had crappy MoCap is a load of shit and you know it. I sympathize with your disappointment, but don't go spewing ridiculous tripe and referring to the "younger generation" as idiots. Normally, I don't have the time nor the energy to respond things like this, but you just sound like a dope.
Oh, I'm sorry. Did I just crap on your favorite film? Sorry if I like stuff that can offer up real looking emotion, and the goofy Avatar stuff looked awful (that and the story was... what did you call it? Oh yeah, "ridiculous tripe"). Why is it that Pixar can bring audiences to tears with cartoons? Because their cartoons emote. Blue cat people in Avatar? Not so much. Deal with it.
PS, I truly feel sorry for you if Avatar is so close to your heart that that derogation of its MoCap causes you to break from the norm and make a comment. You do realize that there are great movies in the world, right?