I am an unabashed fan of Steven Spielberg's output of the past -oh say- 10-12 years of work and he's rarely let me down with much of the masterful stuff he's done (I forgive him for The Terminal) but boy was his adaptation of Herge's Tin Tin comic book series a disappointement. There are brilliant flashes in the film's close to 110 minute running time yet Spielberg -and producer Peter Jackson- try to fit too much in the film and don't exactly give the viewer any breathing room. When the film was over I couldn't help but feel hammered down by all the excess. Jamie Bell plays the beloved teenage detective and the motion capture technology that Spielberg uses in the film is the best use yet of this technology. Andy Serkis plays his sidekick captain but doesn't get as much to chew on here as he did in Planet Of The Apes earlier this summer.
The plot is messy and complicated but in short has to do with a kind of Indiana Jones-like mystery involving a hidden treasure and three separate sheets of paper that connect all the plot twists at the end - or something like that. I'll say this, some of the maddeningly kinetic action set pieces do work but what this really looked like to me was Spielberg trying to get back to his old school Raiders Of The Lost Ark Days. Except Spielberg forgot that in that very movie he gave his characters time to breathe and us less of a headache. Indy is a classic of the genre because it revolved around building tension and time throughout its playfully complicated plot. Consider this one not so successful but I'm still looking forward to Spielberg's next film -War Horse .. Coming out in less that 16 days from now.