Tintin and His Ginger Quiff

(cue dramatic John Williams music)


In a world before Hiccup and Toothless...


Harry and Hedwig....


and Sam Gamgee and Bill the Pony, there was...


Tintin, the Belgian reporter and his brilliant fox terrier Snowy out to save the world from evil bad guys in a series of comics written by the amazing artist, Hergé aka George Remi. There’s no shortage of globe-trotting, slapstick comedy, dangerous villains, and crazy (but funnily plausible enough) adventures with a colorful cast of characters in these books. 

The Adventures of Tintin are greatest comic books series ever written. Seriously. (Although I should tell you, I might have a slight disadvantage picking the best of the best of comic books seeing as Tintin are the only comic books I read. Heh) In these intelligent, layered, well-researched, beautifully drawn, satirical books, Tintin and Snowy travel the world and deal with everything from Al Capone to South American revolutions to Eastern European politics to sunken treasure to horrible Opera singers to the excess of the Soviet Union. And oh yeah, they go to the moon. THE MOON. Twenty years before the real first lunar landing. These books have EVERYTHING except romance and provide a wonderful snapshot of the 20th century. 

There's a reason why some people want the series to be called the Adventures of Tintin and Snowy. 

And the film just last Sunday won the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature. Er, I *may* have teared up a bit when they announced it. (Umm, ahem, yes, I know I shouldn't take these film award shows waayyy too seriously...but I mean, it's TINTIN!)

But however wonderful that award is, the award is a Golden Globe and that’s the issue: The Golden Globes are given by foreign journalists, the keyword there being foreign. The movie has been overlooked (*cough* BOMBED *cough*) critically and box office-wise on this side of the world, obviously because Tintin is indubitably and unapologetically European. (I bet you my bowl of Cheerios that the Oscar's going to Rango.) Belgian or not, no childhood hero of mine should have to suffer through this embarrassment, so here here are six reasons why you should go running to see it now!

(1) It’s visually stunning. Pulling a Chris Traeger (from Parks & Recreation), I’ll say that’s it LITERALLY the most gorgeous animated feature I’ve seen. It is brilliant- no PHENOMENAL animation and use of motion capture. It’s jaw-dropping and I almost fell out my chair while watching it with my 3D glasses on. I remember when the first sneak peek pictures came out my brother and I went around the house in a rampage that Spielberg and Jackson were going to ruin our favorite childhood hero’s story. We went into the theater sweating, begging Spielberg that everything will go alright (because we have a telepathic link with Spielberg obviously), and two hours later we were able to wipe the sweat off our brows while walking out because it did. Thank you animators at WETA digital. 

This was LITERALLY my pose for the entire two hours sans Snowy.

 (via markeeto)

(2) The story’s just infectious with its energy. It’s an adventure story: a classic, quaint, smart early 20th century adventure story. This is Indiana Jones decades before Indiana Jones came to life. It starts quietly enough: Tintin’s enjoying an afternoon walking around a flea market and he happens to find a model ship of The Unicorn. From there the story jumps forward and never stops as Tintin heads out to find the secret of The Unicorn before the villains do. It’s exhilarating and I haven't had this much fun watching a film in a loonng time.

(3) Cinematography and transitions. It’s an animated film so it’s probably a bit easier getting the cameras around everything but hey, credit is due where credit is due. The filmmakers have to think creatively about where to place the cameras, right? And they do. The camera sweeps all throughout the film, following Tintin's escapades through windows, on the streets of Brussels, in the Moroccan town of Bagghar, and etc, so so so beautifully. And the transitions. Holy. Cheesecakes. WHEN TINTIN AND CAPTAIN HADDOCK SHAKE HANDS, THE CAMERA ZOOMS IN AND THE HANDS TURN INTO SAND DUNES. WHO THINKS OF TRANSITIONS LIKE THAT?!?! And The Unicorn BURSTING through the sand. And the chase sequence. AHHH. The way Tintin turns the motorcycle handles around to use them and a wire as a zipline. AHHH again. I might get a heart attack just getting too excited about it. 

I LITERALLY cannot wait for all the behind the scenes special features the blu-ray's going to bring. (via)

(4) Tintin’s introduction scene rocks. That is all. And his gravity-defying quiff got a special scene (psst..the scene involves mirrors).

The biggest issue with the film that American critics seem to be having with the film (besides the mo-cap) is Tintin himself. Everyone seems to want a backstory for him. After reading each book countless times, I can say that he just doesn’t have one. He’s meant to be enigmatic. I don't think I've realized this until I came back from the film, but the biggest mystery in the entire series of mysteries is Tintin. From what we the readers know, he has no parents or family to speak of besides Snowy. He doesn’t have much of a life outside of being a reporter, no determinate age (I always thought he was in his late teens/early twenties), and we don’t know what the deal with his name is (is Tintin a pseudonym for his journalistic activities or what?!), but that’s okay. Hergé gives us everything we need to know about him: 

Tintin's a ginger, quiffed reporter whose signature outfit consists of a beige trench-coat, a blue sweater, and brown plus fours. He’s whipsmart, adventurous, eager, innocent-ish but calculating, dynamic, and ridiculously good-looking for an animated character. He also knows the meaning of truly packing a punch. 


And Jamie Bell captured him very well. The mannerisms, the expressions and the tone he gives to Tintin are perfect. The rest of the actors (Andy Serkis, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, etc) nailed their roles as Captain Haddock and Thompson & Thomson respectively. And Daniel Craig was surprisingly sinister as the bad guy. 

Real Tintin is wondering how and why motion-capture Tintin looks better than he does...

... while motion-capture Tintin has just noticed that his quiff is fashionably triangular instead of rectangular like in the books. 
(via brokensunday)

(5) It will make you smile. It made me smile and I’m pretty sure there’s at least one smile-inducing scene for everyone (and OF COURSE it will because the screenplay was written by the hilarious and witty British writing trio Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright, and Joe Cornish). One of my favorite scenes is when Tintin’s trying to figure out why everyone’s after his model ship of The Unicorn, and a grin comes on his face and he says, “...And I know where I’ll find the answer...the library!” I'm sorry everyone. I tried to but I couldn't stop myself from awwwing. It was too adorable. How many characters do you see these days exclaiming enthusiastically that they need to go the library to get information besides Hermione?


(6) It’s a lovely tribute to Hergé. Hergé's the artist who's inspired everyone from Walt Disney to Brad Bird. If you pick up a book after seeing the movie (hopefully!), you’ll see that there are little details the filmmakers sprinkled throughout to show their love and appreciation for Hergé's world: Tintin’s apartment had red armchairs and a desk next to the window; Tintin gets knocked out numerous times (I assure you that I’m not a sadist! Hergé has Tintin getting clubbed or hit with a brick or rake or wine bottle or something almost all the time. It just won't be Tintin without those scenes); there are guns and aeroplanes; Snowy saves the day plenty of times; Captain Haddock can swear colorfully and the bad guys are refreshingly old-fashioned. Though some might disagree with me, even though it’s not animated in the traditional sense, the art and design of everything is still very Hergé. There is nothing out of place here, except for a few lapses of reality but I’m not even going to go there.

So yeah, in conclusion, GO SEE The Adventures of Tintin! And thank you Spielberg,  Peter Jackson, WETA, the writers, Jamie Bell and the rest of the cast for not being afraid to bring out their inner Tintin nerd while making this film. As the cartoon series Tintin would strangely say, “YAHOOO!” 

"I LITERALLY cannot wait until Steve lets me stop doing all this publicity stuff."
 -Jamie Bell 

Summer is almost over...

And there are so many awesome movies I've seen this summer that I haven't been able to mention yet! Agh. To sort of make up for that, here are 5 movies that rocked my summer:

Toy Story 3

Best movie of this summer, hands down. :) It was adorable, heartwarming, and poignant (at least to me :D). The last five minutes are the most heartbreaking last five minutes that I've ever seen in a movie, and my love for Pixar grew even more (if that's even possible). I definitely connected with this movie a lot more because of my age, that's for sure. I probably wouldn't have cared about the story half as much if I was 8 or 9.

Sense & Sensibility

I haven't read the book, but the 1995 movie is fantastic. :D The story, the cast (yay Kate Winslet!), the script, the acting, the costumes, and the scenery are all wonderful. The funniest thing for me was seeing Alan Rickman (hehe, Severus Snape) as one of the romantic heroes. It took me a while to get adjusted to seeing him in a non-villanous role, but I loved watching him. :D

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

I was so worried about how they were going to transfer the book to movies, but after we

finished watching it, I remember turning to my family and saying, "Now this is how a book to movie adaption should be." Everyone did a wonderful job bringing the story to life! It was hilarious of course, but it was also heartfelt and sweet, and displayed the truths of middle school in a not-so-exaggerated way.

There is never a boring moment, and you can't help but adore Zachary Gordon as Greg Heffley. He is Greg. And...they change the ending a bit, but I think I prefer the ending of the movie to the ending of the book. DWK fans will love this, but also a younger sibling with a dire need of a good movie will appreciate this. I know mine did. :)

Sherlock Holmes

Yes, Sherlock Holmes participating in street brawls for fun felt totally out of character, but Robert Downey Jr. and Judd Law were just ah-mazing. I admit I...umm...fell asleep in the middle, but it wasn't a bad movie at all! It was just a little slow, but the ending completely made up for that. Heh..heh..It was actually kind of creepy.

Independence Day

A simple, 1994 sci-fi movie. I ended up liking it more than I thought it would. The ending, though cheesy and anti-climatic, was awesome. :)

(Yes, I'm starting to like older movies a lot for some reason. :D)

What were your favorite movies this summer? There's a ton I didn't get to this summer, but there's always next year. :)

The Princess and the Frog

My friends and I got together yesterday afternoon, and after a loong series of emails and phone calls about what movie to watch, we finally decided on the Princess & the Frog. I've been wanting to watch it for a long time, (I mean, a traditional, hand-drawn, Disney movie, in 10 years?!), so let's just say that I was a little more than ecstatic to watch it. After finishing it, I guess it's fair to say that I really, really, really, really liked this twist of the Frog Prince. (Is that enough reallys? :D)

It's post-WWI New Orleans. The film follows Tiana, who's a hard-working girl, saving enough money to fufill her (and her father's) dream of becoming a chef, and owning a restaurant. Along comes Prince Naveen, who comes from the fictional kingdom of Maldonia, who dances his away into the city for the Mardi Gras masquerade ball in hopes of finding a rich girl to marry, because you see, due to his carefree lifestyle, his parents cut him off, and now he's totally broke. Everything is turned upside down, when he gets tricked by a voodoo master, Dr. Facilier, and he's turned into a frog. After finding Tiana, and convincing her to kiss him (because he believes she's a princess due to the costume she's wearing), she turns into a frog herself. Together, with a couple of new friends, they go on an odyssey to turn themselves back into humans, and learn about themselves, and maybe even find true love along the way. :)

There were four things I absolutely LOVED about this movie: the characters, the animation, the culture, and basically the story. Each character had a well-developed personality, and for this reason I was especially enchanted by Prince Naveen (hehehe :P). We got to know him more than we do the other princes. He's a bit of a weirdo at first, but he's cool and quirky. The last couple of scenes with him and Tiana were especially sweet, and I just liked how supportive he was of Tiana and her dreams. :D The other characters were also eccentric, like Ray the Firefly, Louise the Alligator who dreams of becoming a Jazz musician, Mama Odie the crazy voodo lady, and Tiana, herself.

The animation was sweet, and I liked going back to the original way of hand-drawn movies after watching CG movies all the time. It was...refreshing. And, I enjoyed seeing the Mardi Gras celebrations, and hearing the different style of songs. Though the songs weren't as good as other Disney songs like the one in the Lion King & the Little Mermaid, a few were still catchy. Oh yeah, and the fact that I understood all the little bits of French that were spoken made me happy. :P

The Princess and the Frog tells about how hard work is also needed along with hoping and wishing, friendship, finding out the difference between what you want and what you need, and like all other Disney movies, love. :D It's quirky, sweet, cute, hilarious, and maybe even a little heart-warming at times, and...it's a Disney movie! Now, who doesn't like a good Disney fairytale rendition, huh? Huh?! :D

My thoughts on the Lightning Thief: the movie

It's really funny to me, because it feels like it was only yesterday that Rick Riordan wrote on his blog that Logan Lerman and Brandon T. Jackson have been cast as Percy and Grover. That was waay back last March. Now 11 months later, the movie has come out, and right now, I'm sitting on my bed, writing a review of it. Time went by fast didn't it? :/

Well, anyway, I went into the movie last night with mediumish expections. I was scared they were going to ruin everything, and, I was hoping so badly that it would be at least a little decent. But...I enjoyed it! :-D (I'm so happy right now. *squee!*)

~Spoilers~
Ok, let's talk about the cast first, shall we? :) I think the highlight of the cast was (not so surprising after watching tons of interviews) Brandon T. Jackson. He totally stole the spotlight in all the scenes. He added a new dimension to Grover, and the new toughness was a nice add to his character. At first, I did miss the timid/frightened Grover, but as the movie went on, I started loving this version of his character more and more.

Logan Lerman was PERFECT...I was kind of sad that most of the comedy scenes went to Brandon (and that's my biggest complain about his character since I loved Percy's humor in the book so much), but Logan still had a few (like the Capture the Flag scene :-D) and comedy scenes or not, he was wonderful as Percy. (I'm still amazed at how they found a guy that looked 99% like the Percy in my imagination :D) In the movie, they add a little more angst to Percy's character, and, oh my goodness, I loved him in every scene. (No, I didn't like just because he is quite good-looking. He was really great.) ;)

Alexandra Daddario as Annabeth was OK. I was disappointed that they didn't give her much of a role. (I noticed that they gave all her lines in the book to Grover in the movie). They took out everything I admired about her character- her strategy skills (she brags about them, but doesn't show them), her know-it-allness, her pride-but oh well.

The adult cast was awesome! I especially loved Kevin McKidd as Posiedon, Uma Thurman as Medusa (my, the Medusa scene is probably one of the best in this movie!), and Pierce Brosnan as Chiron, and the rest did great too. :)

So, on to everything else now:

Hmm....I think about 60% of the book is changed around, but it's still a pretty good adaption. This had plenty of clever, hilarious, and epic scenes.

I liked the pacing the movie. Everything wasn't too rushed (though Percy could've grieved more about his mom), and the writers still kept all the major scenes and dialogue that were in the book. I think it would've been better if it was longer though.

The soundtrack wasn't too bad either...

The Olympus scene, and the beginning scene with Zeus and Posiedon were kinda cheesy. The dialogue was weird, and a little bit too dramatic. Hehe...some of the dialogue in other scenes were cheesy too. There was also these voiceovers by Posiedon which were done because Percy and other demi-gods sometimes hear their parents talk to them in their heads because they're not supposed to directly talk to them. Those were done so...I don't want to say badly, but that's the only way I can say it without being too mean to them.

Ok, I think the biggest problem I had with this film, was Luke. Jake Abel was nice as Luke, but the problem is, he's only in like, umm, 4-5 scenes? And what was up with no Annabeth/Luke? His character is not well-established, and so it's hard to care for him or understand him. They make him so forgettable. And also, the climax scene was weird. Oh, and no one knows what happens to him in the end! After the climax scene, no one ever mentions him again. Oh no, poor Luke. :P

Oh yeah, and the Persephone's pearls subplot was so unnecessary. It's this part that made it so un-PJOish. Why couldn't they keep the original quest?

Well, they also made things more intense of course! Like the scene between Percy and Gabe before they have to leave for Camp, or that scene when they go down into the Underworld. The intensity was great.

I liked the first half of the movie so much more than the second half. The second half felt a bit choppy (with the climax/Olympus scene/etc.) and I thought they could've done it better.

I'm glad they aged up the characters, and I can see why they decided to do that now.

I thought the last and final scene was done well. It was too cute. :)

So overall, I was happy with this. Honestly, I'm not picky about book-to-movie adaptions that much, and I don't get upset if things are not literally translated from the book to the screen (they can't keep everything in...it's a movie...). As long as the characters and story are true to the book, I'm satisfied. I just thought that they could've tried more to stick to the original story, but I'm glad I saw The Lightning Thief on the big screen. It's worth a watch if you're a PJO fan* or if you want to watch a fun, light-hearted movie. :)

P.S. After the movie ends, stay seated during the credits for an extra scene!

*Though if you're a PJO purist, it'll probably be better to stay away from this. :P

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

I watched HP and the Half-Blood Prince yesterday! I've been waiting for this since last summer. I agree with all the critics that said it's the best HP movie yet.

The movie was amazing. I enjoyed it immensely. Everything was great. The comedy (hilarious!), the action, everything worked and no part was ever boring. I liked how the younger cast got a lot better with their acting! Rupert was impressive in the comedy scenes, and Daniel was excellent as Harry. In Order of the Pheonix, I felt that Emma Watson's acting was a little strained, but it was more natural in this movie. Tom Felton (Malfoy) awesome in all his scenes. I also liked that Bonnie Wright (Ginny) had a larger role in this one. The adult cast is great as usual, but I was sad that Hagrid was only in one scene and the Dursleys weren't in there at all!


The only two problems I had with the movie, was the romance and the battle at Hogwarts at the end. The romance wasn't bad, but sometimes it felt forced. You don't actually know when Harry starts liking Ginny in the movie. Maybe it's just me, but I don't think they handled it correctly. The Lavender/Ron/Hermione triangle was cute though. :) They also didn't have the battle at the end! It was only Harry chasing Snape for a while calling him a coward, and then Snape just runs away. I think they put in the scene with Bellatrix and Greyback at the Burrow to make up for the battle.They didn't have Dumbledore's funeral, but I agree with the producer,David Heyman, about how it would've ruined the tone. I thought the scene where they all gathered around him and lit up their wands was perfect. I'm going to miss Dumbledore a lot. :(


Overall, I loved this movie a lot! They captured the emotions of all the characters wonderfully. Now we all have to wait patiently for the next two parts. Oh my, they are going to be so intense and emotional...

The funny part is that after the movie, I couldn't stop thinking in British accent for a while. Does that happen to anyone else? After watching Australia, I started thinking in an Australian accent...

A few thoughts on Stormbreaker

I watched the movie, Operation Stormbreaker, a few days ago along with my younger brother, Rishi, and a few of his friends. We had such an adventure in Blockbuster, searching for a good movie to watch. We spent at least an hour walking around, arguing with each other about movies. As I was walking past a shelf, I saw Stormbreaker. I remembered seeing the movie poster a couple of years ago somewhere and my English teacher recommending the book to us in 8th grade saying that it had a James Bond feeling to it. Out of desperation to get out Blockbuster, I grabbed the movie and showed it my young little friends, hoping that they would say yes and we could go home, finally. Just as I hoped, they took a liking to it and gave it to my mom so she could pay for it.

We went home and my brother immediately popped the DVD into the DVD player and turned on the TV.

Here's a little summary: After Alex Rider's uncle, Ian Rider, gets murdered, M16 (the FBI of England) persuades Alex to work for them and continue Ian's mission and find out the secret behind the computer, Stormbreaker and it's creator, Herrod Sayle. (Alex is only fourteen, by the way.)

The movie was a bit boring to watch. I liked Alex Pettyfer, the actor playing Alex Rider, but I thought he looked too old to play a 14-year-old. Most of the movie dragged. There were a lot of amazing action scenes though. (It looked like they cared more about the action than the script.) Rishi and his friends were staring at the screen with wide-eyes, gasping or exclaiming "woah!" whenever Alex did some cool action stunt. I like spy/action movies, but this one was not that interesting. (The best scene was probably when he crashed through the roof of the science museum at the end. There was also this part when Alex was riding a horse to Sayle's tower and getting chased by the bad guys. That scene was fun to watch.)

Even though I wasn't a big fan of the movie, I decided to get the book because usually, the books are way better than the movie. (And I love mysteries and spy stories. I didn't like the movie, but I liked the story behind it.) I got the book last night and finished it a few minutes ago. The book is a lot better than the movie. It was more suspenseful, and I loved Alex. His character was so serious in the movie and doesn't act at all like a fourteen-year-old, but in the book, he's more fun to read about. Everything has a more mysterious appeal in the book and interesting. The characters are more developed too. As I thought, there were a lot of great scenes in the book that were omitted in the movie. If script writers had stuck to the book, the movie would've been more entertaining. The movie will probably be appealing to guys 12 and younger, but the book will be a wonderful read for anyone who likes mysteries, spies, or something like that. I can't wait to read the rest of the books! I honestly didn't know this book was this interesting. Maybe I should listen to my teachers more often...