With the last major mo-cap movie hitting a true rock bottom at the box office, one has to wonder how nervous the folks behind Tintin are. The pedigree is monumentally greater, the source material is less dumb, but all the same- this teaser trailer seems to go out of its way to avoid showing human faces, especially talking ones. What it would rather show you is some truly stunning imagery that even in the low-resolution (why? why? whywhy2011whywhy?) version that Empire has debuted, looks to be absolutely gorgeous- I am quite eager to see this in a theater . Fortunately Apple also has the trailer, so you can watch this in full HD, where it looks even more stunning. I’m not sure why Empire gets the shitty copy and they don’t even seem to allow embedding to capitalize on it a bit.
The trailer is mostly glamour shots, with a little bit of dramatic build-up to Tintin’s face finally emerging from all the shadows poured over it in the posters that debuted yesterday. He doesn’t say anything or emote, but it’s there. It begs the question- why wasn’t this just one of the largest scale animation projects of all time, rather than a mo-capping endeavor? The proprietary hybrid shit James Cameron is doing notwithstanding, I’ve still yet to understand why anything needs to be mo-cap. Ever. Maybe with more time and full context this will be the film that finally pulls out of the uncanny valley on the other side, but I’m doubting it. Even some of Zemeckis’ later mo-cap’d films looked pretty sharp in brief clips. I’ve still yet to be convinced it wouldn’t be better to take this motion information and use it as a stepping stone to a truly animated image.
As for the content of the trailer itself- it’s fine, even great. This is a teaser that barely clocks in at a minute long. Its only purpose is to toss in a few flashy shots (the plane crash, the ship, the almost photo-real city street) and tie them together with a big ole TINTIN logo. The only heavy lifting this shit is doing in the US is planting the seed of the name of the property in people’s brains. Elsewhere in the world, it’s simply an announcement that has no work to do. Teaching people who Tintin is, why he’s important, how huge he is in the rest of the world- that will come later.
What do you guys think? Game-changing? Record breaking? What sent of success or failure do you pick up from these earliest of moving images?
The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn is an upcoming 2011 American motion capture 3D film based onThe Adventures of Tintin, a series of comic books created by Belgian artist Georges “Hergé” Remi. It is directed bySteven Spielberg, produced by Peter Jackson, and written by Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish. The script is based on three of the stories: The Crab with the Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham’s Treasure.
Thanks to Brian Henne.
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15 comments
I suspect this will be a lot like Golden Compass was, but magnified – It’ll break records overseas, but in the US hardly anyone will care, even with Spielberg’s name attached.
The reasons for using mo-cap are myriad. There is a subtlety and resolution to human movement which animators simply can’t capture. Hundreds of tiny muscle movements combine to create the simplest thing – a walk, throwing something etc. Are you honestly saying you can’t see the value in how Gollum was achieved? King Kong (the character, not the movie)? The Uncanny Valley is a separate issue entirely – that has to do with believability of emotion and expression. They still have a way to go there, no doubt, but they’re getting there. Movement is a different animal – it can never be created by keyframe animation on the same level as motion capture. Not even close.
Oh my god Tintin looks soooooo creepy.
Very well said. A better question is – WHY IS THIS ANIMATED AT ALL?
Given the level of realism they seem to be going for, live-action would’ve been a far more logical choice.
Unclean! Demon Animatronics!
Was really hoping for good things…but as soon as I spied the Thompson/Tompson(?) eyes, my guts shrivelled…then TinTin himself.
Hold it back for a year. Cut in real actors with Dick Tracy-like prosthetics. At least it won’t be a full abortion.
Fuckin’ Mimes ain’t got nuthin’ on the creep factor of these ghastly creatures.
SOOOO creepy. I don’t get it. Haven’t then learned their lesson from all those Zemeckis failures? Either do live action humans or go stylized humans like the Incredibles. Otherwise it just looks too strange.
I,m sure it’ll be better upon release, but that looks awful.
Simon Pegg would of been a pitch-perfect Tintin a decade ago (live-action)…good to ‘see’ him and Nick together again (after ‘Paul’…), though I’m a tad concerned about their accents.
And it would’ve saved them from having to make Tintin look like the creepy, stupid, fat face that he is. His design is what has kept me from ever giving Tintin a chance.
Mr. Connors, I agree with that argument for CG that is existing alongside live-action, like Gollum, but I don’t really understand the point of mocap animated movies. It is an awkward middle ground.
Tintin actually looks frightening. Why is this mo-cap again and not live action? Totally wrong headed decision on Spielberg’s and Jackson’s part.
Got to agree there. I’ve heard a lot about Tintin (mostly good), but the design(s) have always turned me off.
Tintin looks like someome with extensive plastic surgery. It just looks wrong. I’ve nothing against mo-cap per se, but in this instance an old fashioned animation would have been better. Or they should have made a live action movie. Treading the awkward line between the two is just bizarre.
This should have been live action with the old school feeling of an adventure like North By Northwest.
I agree that this should have been live action. But I’m willing to give it a chance. Anyone who hasn’t read the books should really give it a chance. It’s a terrific series. The designs never bothered be but, then again, I’ve always had a thing for European comic books.
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