The Adventures of Tin Tin @ Americana Pacific 18
The Movie: 4 of 5 Kernels
This perfect popcorn movie falls a little short in the
empathy department but dazzles with thrills and spills enough to leave you
smiling.
The Pop: 4 of 5 Kernels
Very Buttered, multi-salted popcorn, with jalapeno’s, Lime
& Orange Diet coke, plus M&M’s
The Film
Adapting
can be so difficult, but the results can be sublime. In Tin Tin there is the translation of the globally loved Tin Tim
comics into a full fledged American blockbuster. The other adaptation of
Spielberg to the medium of animation
with the wunderkins at WETA backing him up. The latter is more successful then
the former, that is to say that the film is a technical masterpiece, a great
synthesis on the motion capture work of Avatar,
& Rise of the Planet of the Apes with
the detailed animated world that is just shy of the uncanny valley that lies
home to the recent films of Zemeckis. The downside is that while the script is
whip-smart, clever and filled with a series of great action set pieces, its
protagonist is very difficult to root for, because he seems to have no real
reason to be there. It ends up being a fundamental flaw to the film, but one
that it mostly overcomes through a solid character arc from the sidekick and of
course the marvel that is seeing one of the greatest living film makers given
the keys to a shiny new set of toys. (to liberally mix my metaphors)
The
plot of Tin Tin revolves around the mystery of the Unicorn, a ship sunken in the
1600’s. Our protagonist the eponymous Tin Tin buys a model of said ship, and is
immediately approached by two figures each wishing to buy it lest the ship
bring him trouble. Tin Tin refuses and brings the ship home, where his dog
Snowy accidentally breaks it, loosing a hidden piece of the ship. Tin Tin’s
apartment ransacked, the ship taken, but the missing piece is not. Tin Tin
follows the clues from there to track down the mystery and ends up being
abducted and thrown onto a ship. There he meets up with the drunken Captain
Haddock and the two escape their jailers and pursue the mystery of the Unicorn
trying to beat the sinister Sakharine to it.
There
is a bit more to the story in terms of Haddock and Sakharine and their
ancestors and a curse, but the basic point is everyone’s looking to solve the
mystery and find the treasure. The problem arises in that Tin Tin’s motivation
is not to recover the treasure for his own personal wealth or some sort of
altruistic support of a loved one. He’s just a reporter after a story who gets
in way over his head and won’t stop chasing the story even as it repeatedly
leads him towards his own doom. Now once he meets Haddock who at least has some
stake in the plot the story at least becomes a tad more sympathetic, but still
why Tin Tin persists boggles the mind. This wouldn’t be so bad if this were a
sequel, I’m not saying I need an origin story, but I’ve never read these
comics. I have no affinity for this character and while he’s not unlikeable,
he’s not really that interesting, his dog is, but him, enh, he’s just okay.
The film has been compared to Indiana Jones and the
comparison is even what led Spielberg to secure the rights over 20 years ago.
However two main things separate Tin Tin from Jones in this key department of
protagonist empathy. First of all at the start of most Indy films, Indy is
cool, the guys is just awesome. Second of all somebody usually sacrifices their
life for Indy, we see that other people like him. Third of all Indy is drawn into
his quests by outside forces, the army sends him after the arc and Marion draws
him in deeper, He lands in the middle of India where the children have been
kidnapped, and his father is kidnapped leading him into the heart of Berlin to
save him. He’s a reluctant hero, where Tin Tin is a reporter with zero self-preservation
instinct. It’s a big problem for the film, but I imagine that to fans of the
comics it matters less, they know and love Tin Tin. This reminds me of one of
my biggest problems with The Passion,
Jesus is not painted as a likable or interesting character, he’s a pious sad
sack for most of the film and sure I’m not the audience for that film, but its
still a failure in storytelling.
Okay
so that caveat out of the way the rest of the film is filled with some
wonderfully gorgeous and imaginative filmmaking. Seeing Spielberg use the
medium and push it is a lot of fun. He’s still got a traditional approach to and
takes real joy in a great transition, there are some in the film that would
make David Lean proud. There are excellent one shots, some awesome stunts
involving planes, burning pirate ships, sword fights and my favorite zero-g
alcohol bubbles. It’s a blast to watch.
The motive for the all animated film came from the desire to
have a dog who could perform on cue and Snowy is a real delight. He’s full of
personality and is a great character. There are many times when I could care
less about what happens to Tin Tin as long as Snowy makes it out alive.
So
I know I spent the majority of the review bitching about the big downfall of
the film and barely touched on all the awesomeness encompassed by the rest of
it. I can take nothing away from the spectacle on display it is very well done,
very well paced, and with a solid smattering of comic relief. However as
impressed as I was by the rest of the film, its disappointing for a film to
have so much going for it, but miss the key to a great film. You have to want
to root for the main character; you should be on the edge of your seat
wondering what will happen next, not because you believe in the peril, but
because you believe in the character. I did not and so the film fell quite
short, it almost knocked it down to 3 kernels, almost. Hopefully when the
sequel comes out they’ll have made the character a tad more relatable or
hopefully my own view on the matter will have evolved and I’ll be able to cheer
the good guys on to victory.
The Corn
The Americana offers a lot of choices and its wonderful, but
can cause mishaps. The butter, ranch salt and parmesan salt were properly
distributed (by moi) for a great flavor almost making the M&M’s unnecessary.
However, their Choose your own adventure, soda fountains
while a ton of fun can lead to combinations like orange lime diet Coke. Now
citrus on citrus sounded good, but the flavors blended oddly, didn’t ruin it,
just wouldn’t recommend to anyone.
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