Anticipating Tintin

I make every attempt to take my son to see one of the numerous children's movies that seem to come out literally around the calendar year these days (funny observation, but such movies seemed like a rare treat when I was growing up, and now, they seem like a dime a dozen). As we were either walking in or walking out of one of them, my eyes happened upon a promotional movie poster that caught my eye. It was a Steven Spielberg production, for an upcoming movie to be released in December of 2011, called “The Adventures of Tintin”.

Now, the reason this caught my eye may not be surprising. I am French, after all, and Tintin has long been an iconic figure in French culture, particularly with kids. Certainly, I was no exception, and have long loved leafing through the pages of Tintin, following all of his adventures (if memory serves me correctly, there were 27 of them).

So, I think quite naturally, this was an eye opener. The poster itself was mostly dark and devoid of any details. I checked online when I got home, but the whole movie seemed to be mired in the dark clouds of mystery. There seemed little available to find out more, even in this age of the internet. I had heard somewhere that Steven Spielberg had enjoyed Tintin when he was growing up, and even perhaps that he intended to make some movie adventure out of them, but this had not left any particular impression. Truth be told, this movie seemed to come out of nowhere, and even weeks before the release, there was little information to be found about it.

A few weeks later, I actually saw the preview, and was struck by a couple of things. First of all, it seemed to be in some weird animation that was not strictly animation. Secondly, it seemed to combine a number of adventures of Tintin's into one. That makes sense, because certainly, nobody was going to literally make twenty seven full-length movies for each individual adventure.

My curiosity was piqued, though. I knew I wanted to see it, but by now, I really wanted to see it. Moreover, I wanted my son to see it. There is something special about sharing your personal boyhood interests to your son. He already loves the Transformers and Marvel's superheroes, and on many levels, it is like revisiting the distant past, and feeling that magical enthusiasm of youth once again. Those were exciting times and adventures, and seeing his little boy enthusiasm actually allowed me to remember and, on many levels, relive it on my own, as well as to be able to appreciate the more adult sentiment of watching a small child take joy in something.

I was anticipating the movie quite a bit, perhaps more than any movie since at least the latest Indiana Jones, and perhaps even since the latest installment of Star Wars (consequently, I believe that Spielberg had a hand to play in both of those movies, as well, although I could be wrong). I kept trying to talk about it to my son, to get him excited about it, although that was, at best, a mixed bag of success. He seemed almost indifferent, but I hoped that would change once we actually saw the movie, finally.

So, imagine my excitement as I got the tickets (For free! Thank you, Optimum!), and then readied myself to go see it with my little son, once and for all. Seeing the commercial, it seemed to draw heavily on the early adventures, when Tintin meets the Captain, gets stranded in the ocean and, later, the desert, and finally, when they pursue some lost treasure on some distant and hidden island. Those were perhaps four to five books worth of material right there, and that was just from the two or three minute preview I had seen.

To be honest, I do not even really know what to expect. But for once, I was excited to see a movie in the theaters, rather than dismissively waving it off and thinking that I could wait for it to come out on DVD. Many movies these days prove never to live up to their billing after all, right? Obviously, I hoped this one would, and for many reasons. Tintin could be an epic adventure, surely, and it would be best seen on the big screen. At least, that was what I hoped.

So, I am very much looking forward to it, and will make sure to write a post on it in the near future.