After a weekend long tease the first images from the motion capture
The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn have been released over at
Empire Online. It features a specially created cover shot by Weta, showing Tintin (
Jamie Bell) and his faithful dog Snowy caught in a spotlight, and two stills from the film. One with Tintin...
and one with Captain Haddock (
Andy Serkis)...
My first reaction to these images from
Steven Spielberg's first foray into the world of motion-capture movie making are particularly so-so, because for me the problem with previous mo-cap movies hasn't really been about the look of the characters it's been about the quality of the film. So, it's nice that Tintin looks like Tintin, Snowy like Snowy etc - but really it's all about the performances and the story. What we do know is that Spielberg has a pleasingly eclectic cast behind the computer-generated wizardry, in the shape of
Simon Pegg and
Nick Frost as the Thompson twins,
Daniel Craig as pirate Red Rackham,
Toby Jones as Silk,
Mackenzie Crook as Ernie and
Cary Elwes as a pilot. The script was written by
Steven Moffat, who is currently in charge of 'Doctor Who' for the BBC, and received some polish by
Edgar Wright and
Joe (from 'Adam and Joe')
Cornish. Despite the title the film is reportedly based on both the titular book and its follow-up 'Red Rackham's Treasure'. The narrative of 'The Secret of the Unicorn' generally serves as exposition to the eventual adventure in its follow-up, which features Tintin manning a shark-shaped submarine on an expedition to the sunken 'Unicorn' (it's the name of a ship). Spielberg's Tintin will hit screens in the UK on October 26th 2011, with the sequel set to get underway asap if the plucky, ginger journalist proves popular. Though we wouldn't expect Peter Jackson to be the man directing it as The Hobbit will keep him tied down for the next few years. I was a casual reader of the books as a kid (preferring Asterix) and am intrigued to see how the relatively laidback, thoughtful adventures of Tintin translate into a mega-budget blockbuster adventure?