When a new film based on a literary classic is released, the cry goes out “Don’t forget to read the book.” That is especially important in the United States with the release of Steven Spielberg Peter Jackson’a film, The Adventures of Tintin (also known as The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn), based on three of the 24 albums about Tintin written and illustrated by Hergé (pen name of Georges Remi).
It is especially important for an American audience to get to know the Tintin albums, because although they have been translated into 80 languages and have sold more than 350 million copies worldwide ( source ) since Tintin was “born” in 1929, very few of those copies have been sold in the United States. When an audience in the United States goes to see a film called The Adventures of Tintin, that may be the only exposure that audience will have to one of the most beloved fictional characters of the twentieth century. Americans may be left wondering what all the fuss is about.
The Secret of Hergé’s Albums
If they do check the albums, they will be surprised that these albums would be called “comic books” in the United States, but to dismiss the Tintin albums as just comic books would be like dismissing Moby-Dick as a fish tale. These books are packed with history, psychology, insight, and yes, fun, so that novelist and artist Tom McCarthy argues in his Tintin and the Secret of Literature that they can take their place alongside the other great works of literature.
You can read the albums or comic books for free online ( here ) . Unfortunately, the only editions on paper available in the United States are, as Amazon’s commentators reiterate ( here) , too small for the reader to appreciate Hergé’s beautiful illustrations and even at times to read the text without a magnifying glass. However you read them, this film, The Adventures of Tintin, is based on three of Hergé’s albums: The Crab with the Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn, and Red Rackham’s Treasure.
The Secret of Spielberg and Jackson’s Film
Even more than the look of the film, the story and the characters are misleading. A quote used in the advertising campaign proclaims the film to be “the perfect cross between Pirates of the Caribbean and Spielberg’s own Indiana Jones series” (source).
If that is true, then this film fails to capture the charm and complexity of Tintin’s adventures. Another reviewer weighs in that the film has “Too much talking, not enough Bagghar” ( source) . Bagghar is the fictional city where the prolonged aerial bike chase, a few moments of which appear in that trailer, takes place.
Although the Tintin albums are full of outrageous chase scenes (although not that particular one), the talking in between is what gives meaning and purpose to the stories themselves. Peter Jackson treated the Lord of the Rings stories similarly in his films based on those books. He would stretch a battle scene that took a few paragraphs in J.R.R. Tolkien’s novels until the viewer wondered if he would ever run out of new Orcs and new ways to kill them, while the conversations of the characters, as they rambled from place to place, were cut short.
Of course, Peter Jackson’s films were wildly successful at the box office, but they barely ruffled the many rich, languorous pages of Tolkien’s trilogy. Similarly, with Tintin, don’t forget to read the book. Spielberg and Jackson may have crafted a successful film, but I am starting to think of it not as Tintin but as Tonton, a heavy, bloated, overpriced “rollercoaster ride” ( source ), that thunders over the delicate tales that have kept readers around the world, again, except in the United States, captivated since the first Tintin adventure in 1929.
The main resources on paper for learning about Tintin, besides, of course, Hergé’s 24 wonderful albums, are Tintin and the Secret of Literature (2007) by Tom McCarthy, and Tintin: the Complete Companion (re-released 2011) by Michael Farr, Tintinologist par excellence, who has written a number of volumes about Tintin. Online, the most thorough resource is Tintinologist.org , which has been online since 1995.
You may be interested in my other articles on Tintin:
Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson Bring Tintin Adventures to the Big Screen
Keep Up with Tintin News, Books, and Films
Parents, Children: Watch Tintin Films Online for Free
Why is Tintin’s First Adventure so Controversial?
Why Are There Calls for Tintin’s Congo Adventure to Be Banned?
Gangsters, Cops, Cowboys, Indians, Tycoons Welcome Tintin to America
Tintin on Facebook, Twitter, EBay, Blogs, and Online Forums
Tintin Meets Thomson, Thompson, and Captain Haddock
Tintin’s War on Drugs
Rin Tin Tin is Not Tintin
Tintin in the News
Tintin’s Out of Australia’s Government, Playing Soccer in Texas
First Images from Steven Spielberg’s Secret of the Unicorn Are Released
Tintin is Finally on the Big Screen: We Still Have to Wait
Tintin Opens on DVD Before Opening in Theaters