Tintin

I didn't really discover the joys of Tintin until I started attending animation festivals in France. Of course, I loved the art – the cool realistic drawings of the planes, boats, and cars – but also the deceptively simple art style that Hergé employed.

So when I was forced by the entire French populace to learn French, I turned to the Tintin books as a simple and fun way to learn French. C'est magnifique!

I've just returned from the screening of the Stephen Spielberg/Peter Jackson version of the eternal boy's adventures. First, I must say I liked the film a lot – it had loads of action scenes and crazy adventures that stayed fairly close to the original books.

However, I do have a few reservations about the film:

One, Tintin didn't really look the same. His eyes were too small and too close together, he looked like a different character. Although I must say, all the other characters, even Snowy the dog, were quite successful.

Two, there was very little humor in the film, and Hergé used a lot of humor in the books. You'd think with Spielberg and Jackson, experts at humorous films, there would be a lot more gags. The full audience I saw it with hardly laughed at all.

Three, the ending was very anti-climactic. SPOILER ALERT----------- They find a hole in the wall that leads to a hatful of old coins. And that's the grand finale! What kind of adventure film ends with a wet rag finish like that?

One final nit-picky complaint – why do all the characters speak with British accents, yet live in France? Are the Brits now taking over France?

I tell you what I would have loved to see in this film, is Tintin (who seems to be eternally in puberty) watching a hot French girl and show a little sexual curiosity.

But it is a wonderful, roller coaster film full of amazing effects and fun characters. I give it a B-.