The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (2011)
"The Adventures of Tintin" (original title)

Intrepid reporter Tintin and Captain Haddock set off on a treasure hunt for a sunken ship commanded by Haddock's ancestor.

Director:

Steven Spielberg

Writers:

Steven Moffat (screenplay), Edgar Wright (screenplay),

Stars:

Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 13 wins & 34 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jamie Bell	...	Tintin (voice)
Andy Serkis	...	Captain Haddock / Sir Francis Haddock (voice)
Daniel Craig	...	Sakharine / Red Rackham (voice)
Nick Frost	...	Thomson (voice)
Simon Pegg	...	Thompson (voice)
Daniel Mays	...	Allan / Pirate Flunky #1 (voice)
Gad Elmaleh	...	Ben Salaad (voice)
Toby Jones	...	Silk (voice)
Joe Starr	...	Barnaby (voice)
Enn Reitel	...	Nestor / Mr. Crabtree (voice)
Mackenzie Crook	...	Tom / Pirate Flunky #2 (voice)
Tony Curran	...	Lieutenant Delcourt (voice)
Sonje Fortag	...	Mrs. Finch (voice)
Cary Elwes	...	Pilot (voice)
Phillip Rhys	...	Co-Pilot / French Medic (voice)

Storyline

Having bought a model ship, the Unicorn, for a pound off a market stall Tintin is initially puzzled that the sinister Mr. Sakharine should be so eager to buy it from him, resorting to murder and kidnapping Tintin - accompanied by his marvellous dog Snowy - to join him and his gang as they sail to Morocco on an old cargo ship. Sakharine has bribed the crew to revolt against the ship's master, drunken Captain Haddock, but Tintin, Snowy and Haddock escape, arriving in Morocco at the court of a sheikh, who also has a model of the Unicorn. Haddock tells Tintin that over three hundred years earlier his ancestor Sir Francis Haddock was forced to scuttle the original Unicorn when attacked by a piratical forebear of Sakharine but he managed to save his treasure and provide clues to its location in three separate scrolls, all of which were secreted in models of the Unicorn. Tintin and Sakharine have one each and the villain intends to use the glass-shattering top Cs of operatic soprano the ...

---

Plot Keywords:

tintin | ship | captain | treasure | dog | 

---

Taglines:

This year, discover how far adventure will take you.

---

Genres:

Animation | Action | Adventure | Family | Mystery

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for adventure action violence, some drunkenness and brief smoking

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook [fr] Official site

Country:

USA New Zealand

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 December 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn

Filming Locations:

Wellington, New Zealand

Box Office

Budget:

$130,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$9,705,000 (USA) (23 December 2011)

Gross:

$77,564,037 (USA) (16 March 2012)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Amblin Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

Datasat Dolby Digital SDDS Sonics-DDP (IMAX version)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This is Steven Spielberg's first comic-book adaptation. He had earlier been considered to do Superman.

---

Goofs

When Bianca Castafiore is singing all the glass in the room shatters, even some spectacles, yet still Sakharine's spectacles do not.

---

Quotes

Captain Haddock: Ten thousand thundering typhoons!

---

Crazy Credits

At one point in the opening credits, a running Tintin and Snowy are highlighted against a searchlight. This is a homage to the opening credits of The Adventures of Tintin.

---

Connections

Featured in Ebert Presents: At the Movies: Episode #2.23 (2011)

---

Soundtracks

"Evening In Baghdad"
Written by John Leach
Courtesy of APM Music

User Reviews

A rollicking good adventure

What begins as a fun, nimble little mystery in the first act soon kicks into comedy-action-adventure high gear when junior reporter Tintin, with his brave dog Snowy, stumbles upon boozy Captain Haddock (an excellent Andy Serkis), whose family legacy may prove pivotal in a race to uncover the secret of the Unicorn.

From that point on, it's more or less non-stop comedy—some fizzles, most of it works—with gags ranging from jaw-dropping blockbuster chase antics to throwaway background humour. Captain Haddock works brilliantly for the most part: he's unpredictable, endearing, and colourful in all the ways Tintin himself isn't. While the youngster is well played by Jamie Bell, he's mostly just there to work out the clues for the audience. Tintin and Haddock make for a good double-act, though: brains and brawn, cunning and in-over-his-head rashness; together they'd make a good Indiana Jones.

The plot is a by the numbers mystery/adventure/treasure hunt, complete with bumbling detectives (so-so comic support from Simon Pegg and Nick Frost), exciting sea plane action and hidden clues, but it's brought to life in gorgeous visual style. While the script only comes alive in fits and starts, the whole film is bursting with rich detail, and is given added depth by a good, solid use of 3D. The virtual camera-work throughout is stupendous.

One extended chase sequence through the flooding streets of a North African city is so dazzling and dizzying it reminded me why no other filmmaker can match Spielberg when he lets his imagination out for a spin. Another action scene, told in flashback, depicts a breathless pirate showdown in a storm, and features some of the most playful transitions I've seen since Ang Lee's Hulk. There's a pretty good villain, too, played by a wily Daniel Craig.

Snowy, while definitely smarter than your average cute canine, is also given to chasing cats, digging up fossilised bones from the desert, and gobbling sandwiches at decidedly inopportune moments. In other words, he's an instant audience favourite.

All in all, it's a rollicking good adventure, one of Spielberg's most fun movies in a long time, and I'll be buying it on Blu-ray next year.