I am so used to going to the movies alone that I no longer think of movie going as a social activity. My main purpose in going to the cinema has become to spend time by watching a good movie.

Finding a good movie is hard, without looking at the trailers, reading reviews and peeking at the storyline. This often results in spoiling it. And, given that about 99% of the movies are crap I really don’t want to risk accidentally spoiling that 1% that are good. So, yes, I tend to see more crap movies that I would have if I did the proper research (cough ninja assassin cough).

Fortunately there is a flip side. If you don’t think much of the movie when you go to see it, and it turns out great - the enjoyment is tenfold that of seeing it with high expectations. Such was the case for me with The Adventures of Tintin.

In my life I only saw a few cartoons that really surprised me. After all, the technology does not change that often, and most of them seem to look the same. It is when the technological development does not simply increase, but evolves, that I get surprised. This was when I saw Ratatouille. And now, when I saw Tintin.

What is remarkable about the technology used in Tintin is not that it is realistic, because it’s clearly distinguishable from a movie, but that it is, for the lack of a better word, perfect. Perfect, in the sense that it seems to capture the exact vision that the creators wanted to express. There were no technical barriers, no limitations to stop them from doing so. The fact that the picture retained its cartoonish look only enhanced it. It gave it an element of magic.

When watching Tintin you feel like adding any more realism would be bad. It would feel too much like the real life. Real life is boring. Tintin has an aesthetic similar to many of today’s video games. It has similar action sequences. It almost makes you feel in control (if you ever played of the Battlefield or Call of Duty games you will related). However, unlike most video games, the movie manages to inject some human emotion into the characters. While the captain can be seen by many as a crazy person, some of us may recognize in him an everyday person, lost in his ways, clinging onto the memories of old. Or on the verge of a breakdown from having spent most of his life in a meaningless occupation, only to wake up at the end of his life and realize what he missed.

All in all, I recommend this movie.