The Adventures of Tintin

Steven Spielberg’s animated adaptation of the classic European comic books (originally authored by the Belgian artist Hergé) has great liveliness and authenticity, cinematic and otherwise. The combination of motion capture and 3-D, both completely at the service of the unfolding story, works extraordinarily well. The sensational, exuberantly paced action sequences have a surprising kinetic dimensionality to them, and as a result, they make genuine physical sense in even their more magical moments. The best of the comic action in Tintin replicates the elaborate and beautifully timed stunts of classic silent films—the accidental gesture that perfectly subverts an impending threat, for example. In Spielberg’s other holiday release, War Horse, the horse is one of the film’s long-suffering heroes, but even with his gallant beauty, he makes less of an impression, characterwise, than does Tintin’s trusty dog “Snowy,” who is every bit as memorable as the flagrantly erratic Captain Haddock and the bumbling detectives, Thompson and Thomson, and perhaps others among Tintin’s familiar irregulars. Cinemark 14, Feather River Cinemas and Paradise Cinema 7. Rated PG J.C.S.