A poster for the film

Three years after his disappointing action flick Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Steven Spielberg has evidently regained his filmmaking wizardry with The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn.

Based on the much-loved European comic book series of the same name created by the Belgian cartoonist Herge (whose real name is Georges Remi) between the 1920s and the 70s, The Adventures of Tintin is a delightful family-friendly film with a gripping story and high-energy visual effects.

 
Scenes from The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn Photos: CFP

Ahoy there

This animated feature starts with the young reporter Tintin (by Jamie Bell) strolling around a flea market where he buys an old model ship. This model ship, whose archetype is The Unicorn, a 17th-century cargo ship attacked by a mob of pirates led by the notorious Red Rackham (by Daniel Craig), holds the key to the whereabouts of long-lost treasure at sea.

Together with his friends, including a resourceful white terrier named Snowy, a boozy Captain Haddock (by Andy Serkis), and two dumb-headed cops Thompson and Thomson (by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost), Tintin embarks on a perilous treasure hunt involving high jinks and thuggish confrontations.

Veteran director Steven Spielberg has made a clever decision to use motion-capture techniques whereby a performer's moves are combined with computer-generated imagery.

This advanced technology allows animators at Peter Jackson's visual-effects company, Weta (where the The Lord of the Rings films were produced) to render dazzling visual effects. And its inclusion of 3-D pumps up the reality quotient of the film's digital images.

Working with scriptwriters Steven Moffat, Joe Cornish and Edgar Wright, who drew their inspiration from three of Herge's original stories, Spielberg successfully constructs a plausible and witty adventure story using his incredible storytelling skills.

The director has managed to maintain the thrill, suspense and humor of Tintin from beginning to end. Viewers are kept on the edge of their seats as the fearless boy wonder strives to uncover puzzles throughout the film.

And audiences will laugh out loud at the scene in which Captain Haddock tries to refuel an aeroplane with his own alcohol-infused breath.

Vengeance will be mine

There is also an exciting duel between Captain Haddock, whose forebear is the owner of the aforementioned ship, The Unicorn, and the evil descendant of Red Rackham. Their family feud leads to a cliffhanger in which the two heirs are left maneuvering shipping cranes and swords to seek out vengeance.

The cast also deserve credit for invigorating these flawed but lovable characters. Promising young actor Jamie Bell, who is largely remembered from Billy Elliot, injects real life force into Tintin, an old-fashioned hero with no superpowers, but a brave heart and unquenchable curiosity.

Acclaimed actor Andy Serkis, whose resume includes roles in King Kong, The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the recent Rise of the Planet of the Apes, delivers a subtle performance as Captain Haddock, a struggling alcoholic.

When Serkis' Haddock babbles about the secret of his distinguished family, we feel not only empathy, but real pity for this character.

Everyone's a critic: Comic hero?

George Moss

British, 2 years in Shanghai

"Although Steven Spielberg's latest film The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn is a visually striking adaptation of Herge's classic comic book series, it still somehow lacks the true aesthetic and dramatic quality of the original Herge comics. As a Tintin ‘fanboy,' I really miss those artistically-rendered characters and well-developed stories from the Tintin comics. They're the core of this legendary cartoon strip series that have enthralled hundreds of thousands of readers worldwide."

Wu Dan

30, 10 years in Shanghai

"I'm amazed by the film technology which captures human movements so well. So much so that I found it hard to tell whether it was an animated film or not. The story reminds me of Spielberg's Indiana Jones franchise, and Haddock and Snowy gave me the most laughs of all."

Emma Zhao

26, 3 years in Shanghai

"I had quite a pleasant time watching this film. I like the long sequence of silhouettes before the actual film started; it was very special. As I have never read a page of the original works of Tintin, I'd like to find the books and read them all after watching the movie."