Then the movie really shows off: look what it can do with light. Mirrors, magnifying glasses. Serious students of optics captured a lot of it in their mathematics, and it didn't all leak away. We use it to computer generate and share what's in our imaginations, as well as to prescribe lenses for ourselves.
The movie (a snaking twisting scenario, always fast moving) makes fun of his signature tuft of hair.
We get used to the character, comparing it with our memories of the comic book if we have any.
I do have such memories, as I'd poured over Tintin as I had Mad Magazine and many others. Nestro made a deep impression as the butler. Shades of Batman.
This new ability to animate worlds, based on characters developed by artists past, is a stellar direction in which to be pioneering. There in The Avalon, I was seeing the state of the art unfold. A couple o' geezers (as Jane Snyder calls us) in future-ville.
Then we played retro games.
I got the biggest kick out of being a long haul North American trucker, from a Japanese point of view (some of those trucks you just wouldn't see on a standard stint).
Captain Haddock was formative in my characterization of Captain Wardwell, and that forced me to keep looking at Tintin and deciding what I didn't like about him. He's eerily action-oriented, this guy, in hot pursuit of his story. He's a story chaser, that's his raison d'etre.
One can't dispute he's good at his job, so he wins high marks for professionalism, if that's really what a journalist is.
One never reads what he writes for the newspaper. They haven't invented TV yet, in that world. He's like one of the first one-named celebrities, like Madonna, like Prince. Everyone knows him, they say, in his home town.
Tintin reminds me of this girl Sintel in the Blender anime -- very single minded and agile in pursuit of goals. Now that's giving him a lot of credit, more than I usually do. Credit Spielberg and his crew.
Anyway, I'll be curious to check this out in 3D someday maybe. Alex, you've gotta see this. Avalon flashes by in the opening credits of Portlandia. Consider it a tourist destination if from out of town and doing the off-beat "real Portland" tour. Go at night, foggy is best, and savor the outdoor lighting.
