AH-MAZ-ING!

(Don't read this unless you want some minor spoilers for the Tintin movie (I'm not giving away the end)! Also, the quotes I use from the movie aren't exactly right, but they do have the general meaning of what was being said).
My legs began to shake as I stepped out of the car and started walking towards the movie theater. After picking up our 3D glasses, my dad and I hastened into the dimly lit theater and took our seats. Now, after about a year of waiting, the moment I had been waiting for had nearly come... Only 30 minutes or previews separated me from the movie which I had come to see.
I had heard that they were going to play "The Hobbit" trailer before the Tintin movie but it wasn't played so I had to watch it at home after the movie.
Finally the previews ended. I was breathless as the movie started. There was Tintin! Or rather, Tintin's shadow. He was running, with Snowy on his heels, through the title credits. His theme music - by John Williams - accompanied him as his shadow darted in and out among streets and people and shadows of things from the Tintin books.
I was VERY impressed that the beginning credits held so much from the books. I spied the wooden figure from "The Broken Ear" and they also included many pictures from the books! At the end of the opening credits they acknowledged Herge, the author. Then.... the movie started.
It opened with Tintin in the street market being drawn by a cartoonist - Herge! As he was drawing Tintin he said,
"You look familiar, haven't I drawn you before?"
I absolutely love that line!! Then he finished the drawing of Tintin and it is the Tintin that I know and love... the comic version! I was so busy searching the background of the market for people or pictures from the books that I nearly missed the opening of the plot!
After chasing after Snowy, smoothing down his quiff and having it pop back up, and then bending down to pet Snowy, Tintin spots a model ship in the reflection of a mirror.
He turns around and after examining it, buys it from the man selling it. As soon as he puts his money down a man runs up and inquires about the price. Tintin insists that he doesn't want to sell and the man walks off, telling Tintin that the ship is nothing but trouble and that he should get out while he still can. As soon as the first man is out of sight, a second appears: Sakharine! He also wants to buy the ship and tells Tintin to name his price.
"Name his price!" the man who sold the ship to Tintin exclaims. "I miss 'name your price' by one man!"
Tintin again says that he doesn't wish to sell and walks off.
From there on the plot moves forward quickly. Tintin gets curious about the model ship - The Unicorn - and goes to the library to look it up. When he returns to his apartment, he finds it ransacked and the model ship gone. Earlier, before he went to the library, the ever present Snowy knocked The Unicorn from it's place on the chest and the mask broke. A small cylinder fell out of the mast and rolled under the chest. Tintin finds this, with the help of Snowy, after returning from the library. He opens the cylinder and a piece of paper is found inside that reads as follows:
"Three Brothers joyned. Three Unicorns in company sailing in the noonday Sunne will speak. For 'tis from the Light that Light will dawn. And then shines forth Eagle's cross."
After a few more events, such as breaking into Marlinkspike Hall and meeting Sakharine again, getting his wallet stolen, nearly getting run over by a car, and a man being shot on his doorstep, Tintin is kidnapped and brought aboard the ship "Karaboudjan" where he promptly escapes - with the help of Snowy - and ends up in Captain Haddock's cabin. The Captain thinks that Tintin is there to murder him so they have a sword fight. After assuring the Captain that he's not there to kill him, Tintin leaves, only to be found by one of the ship's crew. They have a fist fight and then Captain Haddock intervenes. Tintin and Haddock exchange names and then head off to find an escape which they eventually do.
After having their jolly boat blown up (by Haddock pouring whiskey over a fire to try put it out) and then the plane they commandeer crash, Tintin and Haddock are stranded in the dessert where the latter tells the story of his ancestor Sir Francis Haddock who was captain of The Unicorn. Then Haddock collapses because of lack of water and is soon followed by Tintin and even Snowy. The next thing they know is that they are waking up in an encampment of soldiers. Haddock tells the rest of his ancestor's tale and Tintin figures out that there are three model Unicorn ships and each has a scroll. Sakharine has one, Tintin has one, and the third is in Bagghar. That is the next destination of Tintin, Haddock, and Snowy and they soon set off.
Thus follows one of my favorite scenes in the movie. The third scroll is obtained by a trained hawk of Sakharine's. Snowy chases after the hawk and Tintin after Snowy. Haddock and Sakharine also join in on the chase and the three scrolls pass between all the before mentioned a number of times before they end up in Sakharine's hands. The chase sequence is very elaborate and very fun to watch! Not boring in the least... Something fun and exciting is happening every moment!
It all ends, though, when Sakharine threatens to push Haddock and Snowy into the ocean, tied up. They are thrust into the water and due to loyalty to his friends, Tintin lets go of the scrolls and dives after the Captain and Snowy and saves them from drowning. Meanwhile, Sakharine and his men and his hawk go aboard the Karaboudjan and set sail.
Next follows a very inspiring part in the story. Tintin is downhearted and has given up but Haddock, who, thus far in the story, has been the downer with no hope, puts him in his place by saying that if you believe in something you should fight for it and stop at nothing. Then Tintin gets an idea and the story if off again! Eventually all is resolved but I shall leave my long synopsis at this so as not to spoil the end.
Now on to my review...
As the title of this blog says, the movie was AMAZING! I absolutely adored it! Of course, I may be a tad bit biased because I went into the theater with the resolve to come out loving the movie no matter what.
I loved watching the friendship grow between Captain Haddock and Tintin. The comic twists that the Thom(p)sons added were hilarious and it was super fun to see what Snowy was up to in each scene. I actually think that Snowy was the most well done character. He was so... dog-like! He reminded me a lot of my own Rosey (who just got a bath!). The plot was very well done and pretty easy to follow. The animation was amazing. I was stunned to see dust specs floating through the old, unkempt halls of Marlinspike. They looked so real! This kind of minute detail was consistent throughout the entire of movie. The best thing in the entire movie, at least for me, was seeing all alludes to Herge and his work and his characters and his story. I don't think Steven Spielburg and Peter Jackson could've done a better job on keeping the movie in the world that Herge used for Tintin.
Since this is a review and not me gushing over all of the amazing parts in this movie I'll mention a few things that might bother some people.... Captain Haddock is intoxicated most of the movie and is only completely sober when he is out in the desert. I know this could bother some people, although it doesn't really bother me since that's part of Haddock's character. There is also bloodshed and quite a few pirates get stabbed or shot in an action sequence during Captain Haddock's story.
Other than these parts I don't think that there is anything questionable in the movie. In fact, it is one of the cleanest movies I have ever seen! It may be rated PG but is by NO means a little kid's movie.
This movie is most definitely one of my favorites and I am going to see it in the theaters again as soon as I can! Although I won't see it in 3D again. For my first 3D movie it was alright but I could've done without the 3D. Since practically all movies are being done in 3D now, I don't see it as being so special anymore.
While I wait to see the movie again, the Tintin presents keep pouring in. Yesterday I found the Tintin and Captain Haddock Beanie Babies in my advent calender! They look kind of strange (kind of like Muppets in my opinion....) but that's ok. Most human stuffed animals are strange looking.
However, I love them! Tintin's hair is sooooo soft and his quiff is fun to play with! I should do a post on Tintin's quiff...
Captain Haddock is equally fun to play with and his jacket even comes off!
Here is the trio:


I watched the new Sherlock Holmes movie, made in 2009, tonight. Perhaps I will do a review on that tomorrow. I feel like I need to watch it again before I can do a review on it since I was filled with thoughts about Tintin (due to Miss Jack Lewis Baillot's blog post about the Tintin movie. Hee hee... I just love spelling her name! It's fun. Jack Lewis refers to C.S. Lewis, right (if you are reading this...)? The link to her blog is at the end of the post "Two days until Tintin"). Anyway, I was so filled with thoughts about Tintin and what I would put in this blog post that I missed the first ten minutes or so of the Sherlock Holmes movie due to my own musings. I have nothing to do tomorrow so perhaps I shall watch the movie again in the morning and put up a review tomorrow afternoon or night.
Well I supposed I should be heading off to bed now... Maybe I can read some Sherlock Holmes before I go to sleep. I last left Holmes as he was about to receive a visitor with a very long name (although not as long as Prince William's...) whom Holmes describes as, "The worst man in London." I wonder what will happen in "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton."