Tintin enters the third dimension

Tintin and Snowy's new Hollywood look (left) and one of Herge's line.

More than 80 years since Tintin first appeared in print in Belgium, the roving boy reporter has been transformed for the big screen by Steven Spielberg.
Creator and illustrator Herge's pen lines have been brought to life by 3D and performance capture techniques, in an animated movie that takes the comic book hero firmly off the page.
The young adventurer's famous quiff is lustrous and red and his face full of expression, as up-to-the-minute technology brings him alive and makes him eerily human.
But will traditional fans accept this new guise?
Actor Jamie Bell, who provides the voice and human movement for the Belgian icon, is adamant that Tintin "deserves" such treatment and calls Spielberg "the only guy who could have made this movie".
"In the comic books he's not a living, breathing person. In the film, every strand of his quiff moves," explains the British star, who has given Tintin a standard English accent and says an American twang would have been "criminal".
The 25-year-old says that the film - which is produced by Peter Jackson - can be "paused at any moment and put back into a comic".
"To try and bring Tintin to a new generation of children, you have to present it to them in a way they understand. Steven Spielberg they understand; they understand 3D.”
Michael Farr is a leading light on Tintin who knew Herge and has written extensively on the subject.
"Herge was terribly interested in new technology and a film buff. I think he would have been very excited by the new film.
"When I was writing his biography I found among his papers a note he had written three months before he died [in 1983] which said if there's one person who can bring Tintin successfully to the screen, it's this young American director - and he meant Steven Spielberg," Farr explains.
As for fans with an expert knowledge, who are also known as Tintinologists, he thinks there will be a "mixed" reaction to the new movie, given the visual familiarity with Herge's enduring image of Tintin.
Spielberg's latest venture would appear to be coming under close scrutiny, as a Belgian institution turns into Hollywood hot property.
Tintin and the Secret of the Unicorn opens in UK cinemas on Wednesday 26 October and is due for release in the US on 21 December.

Source: BBC