海角大神

If, like me, you find the movie technique known as motion capture creepy, you might be put off going to see Steven Spielberg鈥檚 3-D 鈥�The Adventures of Tintin.鈥� Motion capture is a sort of halfway house between live-action and animation, with real actors, wired with reflectors and filmed by multiple digital cameras, employed as stand-ins for characters who are then animated against preset backgrounds.聽

In the past, this technique, as demonstrated in movies like Robert Zemeckis鈥檚 鈥淭he Polar Express鈥� and 鈥�Beowulf,鈥� came across as machine-tooled 鈥� soulless. The main achievement of 鈥淭intin鈥� is that at least the cartoon people and pets come across as characters and not hollow, humanoid entities.

This is not, as it turns out, quite enough of an achievement for me. 鈥淭intin鈥� is a m茅lange of second-tier derring-do out of 鈥�Raiders of the Lost Ark.鈥� Spielberg has transferred his mania for graphic storytelling into a new realm, but essentially we鈥檙e watching a live-action variation on some pretty old stuff.聽

The exploits are based on three classic Tintin books by the Belgian comic-book artist Herg茅 (the pseudonym for journalist and illustrator Georges Remi) 鈥� 鈥淭he Crab With the Golden Claws,鈥� 鈥淭he Secret of the Unicorn,鈥� and 鈥淩ed Rackham鈥檚 Treasure.鈥� Those titles alone provide a taste of the film鈥檚 flavor. With his quiff of orangey hair and his boy-wonder doggedness, Tintin (Jamie Bell) and his trusty terrier Snowy circle the globe in pursuit of buried treasure. Along for the ride 鈥� which entails airplanes, frigates, and motorcyles 鈥� is the boozy sea captain Haddock (Andy Serkis). Chief nemesis is the malevolent Sakharine (Daniel Craig), with whom Haddock has, as they say, a history.

There are some amusing bits: An opera diva belts out arias and shatters glass in glorious 3-D; the intrepid Snowy rides to the rescue more than once. But Spielberg makes the mistake of piling on the action nonstop, and even though he鈥檚 a whiz at dynamic compositions even in this computerized format, enough is enough. It鈥檚 the same mistake most action directors with a smidgen of Spielberg鈥檚 talent make all the time. The 鈥�Pirates of the Caribbean鈥� series is a prime culprit. (A one-sentence review of the penultimate film in that series could have read: 鈥淚s it over yet?鈥�)聽

The cartoon character Tintin, first introduced in 1929, has been so wildly popular in Europe that Spielberg and his producer Peter Jackson may be hoping for a similar bonanza stateside. But Tintin 鈥� and 鈥淭he Adventures of Tintin鈥� 鈥� may prove a bit too quaint and well-mannered for American audiences. Maybe this is why Spielberg throws so much highflying action, uncharacteristic of Herg茅, into the mix. He鈥檚 trying to infuse a European-style boy sleuth escapade with some American-style whiz bang. He鈥檚 hoping, in vain I think, that this motion-capture 鈥淭intin鈥� will yield box office 鈥淕oldgold.鈥� Grade:聽B (Rated PG for adventure action violence, some drunkenness, and brief smoking.)