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The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (2011)
The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (2011)
2011 | Action, Animation, Family
3
6.9 (19 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Voice talent (0 more)
Now... I know Herge himself chose Spielberg as the only director for Tintin before Herge passed away.
Instead of choosing to go with one adventure, or even two that were sequels/two-parts, the decision was made to mash up The Crab with the Golden Claws, and the Secret of the Unicorn. Tintin originally met Captain Haddock in the Crab with the Golden Claws (1941), not the Secret of the Unicorn (1943). Needless to say, I was completely confused. Tintin and Haddock were already friends, and Tintin bought the Unicorn as a gift... It was just bizarre to me. Why and how was that decision made? Yes, there were tons of homages to the adventures of Tintin overall, but the plot just felt all over the place.
I also did not dig the animation/mo-cap, it was very off-putting and distracting. Thank god the technology was improved in Ready Player One.
I think I was expecting too much. I wouldn't be remotely interested in a sequel for this. Maybe Spielberg will try it again? It would work better as a television series anyway, you've got 23 complete adventures, the stories need another chance.
  
Doppelganger (1969)
Doppelganger (1969)
1969 | Sci-Fi
5
5.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet creator Gerry Anderson turned down Stanley Kubrick's offer of the chance to do the model effects for 2001: A Space Odyssey, but jumped at the chance to do his own space adventure film a couple of years later. The good news is that all the model-making and visual-effects skill of the operation that Anderson had put together by the late 1960s is on display in this movie. The bad news is that Anderson and his wife wrote much of the script themselves, resulting in a plodding movie which focuses on all the wrong details instead of telling a compelling story.

The problem is that the basic idea - space mission discovers a replica counter-Earth - isn't properly developed, and the characters take nearly an hour to get there, let alone work out where they've ended up. The generally dour tone and rambling metaphysics would become more prominent in future Anderson shows (much of the supporting cast of this film turn up playing regular roles in UFO), but this first effort with live actors is lumpy and frustrating to watch.