(Yes, he doesn’t look like Tintin but if it is motion capture, who cares?)

I jut don’t see how a kid will be able to convincingly do all the investigations that Tintin does, what about the travel, and how could so many people possibly try and kill a kid. I really don’t see that part going down well either.

Also, if Snowy doesn’t get drunk a lot, there will be HELL to pay.

The main features were always a little weak; the rest of the book was brilliant. My favorite was Mickey Pimple, Teen Adventurer, a spot-on demolition of Tintin-style escapades. Rather than Snowy the terrier, Mickey was accompanied by Barney the Backwards Beagle (“Don’t let him lick ya!”), and the supporting cast was replaced by a much creepier and sexually ambiguous bunch influenced by Terry and the Pirates and other classic adventure strips… Honestly, this was laugh out loud stuff, especially if you’ve got both a fondness for Tintin and a mean streak.

I’m not certain that Spielberg can pull off Tin-Tin, but I think it’s at least possible. God knows he has a better shot at it than, say, Chris Columbus.

(I’m not trying to impugn anyone’s taste here… just throwing in my two cents worth. Also I’ve got some illustrations to work on so I really, really need some avoidance behavior. Plus, hey, I like to complain.)

First off, the only way to pull off Tintin in a movie is to animate it. We identify with cartoons in an entirely different fashion than we identify with filmed actors.

The whole idea of an adventuresome boy reporter totally rocks as a kid’s comic strip specifically because of Herge’s visual approach.

See, Tintin-the-cartoon isn’t so much a character as an opening into the story for the reader. You experience the story as Tintin. His face is blank and open; his only personality traits are those most children would like to imagine themselves as having.

As a result when Tintin is in peril we identify with him; when he shoots a bad guy we experience the thrill of combat vicariously.

Put Tintin on screen with a live actor and all of a sudden it becomes obvious how ridiculous — how appalling, even — it is to have a child performing those actions.

One of Tintin’s greatest strengths as a cartoon character is his independence. But to see a real child without any guidance or guardianship is, frankly, distressing.

In the comics you never need to ask what happened to Tintin’s parents. It’s a gimme and the audience runs with it, no problem.

In a movie this question is no longer moot (especially given Hollywood’s current and unfortunate obsession with back story) and there is no way to answer the question of how Tintin came to be a pistol-packing whiskey-drinking underage reporter that would leave the audience in the same state of innocence that makes the comics so enjoyable. The fact that this kid is a lot younger than the Tintin of the comics makes things even more grotesque.

Next is the whole issue of Spielberg. I will grant that he’s got a real gift for creating tension inside of a scene but so far as I can tell (and I know I’m in the minority here) he’s incapable of stringing those scenes together into a real movie most of the time.

I dug Raiders and Catch Me If You Can; the rest of his oeuvre leaves me either cold or bristling with irritation.

In particular I really, really, really hate his treatment of children. He doesn’t get kids. Worse than that is the whole ongoing Bad Dad Therapy theme in his work. Double ick.

(And as an aside I think his treatment of fat people is pretty contemptible as well. Dennis Nedry, that kid in Hook — genuinely offensive stuff.)

See, I don’t think we’re gonna get Raiders Of The Lost Ark here.

I predict another Hook.

I grew up with Tintin books. I remember seeing Raiders of the Lost Ark for the first time and saying “If Spielberg isn’t a Tintin fan, I’ll be very surprised.”