Swanner: The Adventures of Tin Tin is based on a series of classic comic books created by Belgian artist Georges Remi (1907–1983), who wrote under the pen name of Hergé. The series is one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century, with translations published in more than 50 languages and more than 200 million copies of the books sold to date. If these comics are so popular it’s surprising that this is the first I’ve really heard about them. Not that i want to take anything away from the movie…i just think it’s odd.
Not knowing the history when i first saw the film i felt it was director Steven Spielberg’s chance to revive The Young Indiana Jones series. The main characters are quite different but the adventure is the same. Tin Tin is the name of our young hero who is a well known detective. His journey in this adventure was to find out why there was so much interest in a model ship he purchased and why someone keeps trying to steal it. The story is very simple and as i said the adventure is quite familiar. We visit exotic places and barely get out of sticky situations at every turn. It’s so Indiana Jones I’m having trouble not making reference to it. I liked the Indiana Jones movies and this is just not up to par. What made those movies work so well was a main character we loved and the great adventures he supplied. Tin Tin just offers animated locations and with a really mediocre story that’s not as exciting or inviting.
Younger kids will love this movie. It offers them a young hero with a cute dog that gets in and out of trouble in two hours but for old guys like me this film fails by comparison. I actually feel bad because on a technical level the film is awesome but a great adventure it wasn’t. If it does well and they continue Tin Tin’s story i just hope they don’t forget there are older kids like me that don’t want to left out.
Swanner: 
Swanner & Judd Film Reviews 