Sightlines · reception
How The Adventures of Tintin was received
2011 · Steven Spielberg · The Adventures of Tintin on Sightlines
The arc
In 2011 it landed as a mildly uncanny mocap experiment that flopped in the US while cleaning up overseas — now it's a standard 'underrated Spielberg' pick, reappraised as one of his most purely playful, kinetic films.
What’s debated
The forever fight: is motion-capture 'dead-eye' animation a dealbreaker, or is this Spielberg unshackled — the camera finally free to do anything he can imagine?
Its footprint
The single-take Bagghar chase sequence is the endlessly clipped, endlessly cited showpiece — shorthand for what a virtual camera can do that a real one can't. It's also half of the trivia that Spielberg released this and War Horse in the same month.
Where it stands
A Letterboxd-era canon climber — the film fans bring up when arguing late Spielberg is undervalued, kept warm by a decade of 'where is the Peter Jackson sequel?' laments.
Did you know? Spielberg optioned the Tintin rights back in 1983 — Hergé himself reportedly said Spielberg was the only filmmaker who could do Tintin justice, but died that year before the two could meet.