I was raised with the Tintin comics next to my bed. So when I heard that there’s a movie coming out, I couldn’t quite contain my excitement. Not only that, but it’s a movie directed by Spielberg, produced by Peter Jackson (Director of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong, if you don’t know him) and it’s in 3D! How much better can it get? I didn’t think twice before I got my ticket, my popcorn and went to the movie theater.

But still, the sceptic in me was still trying to tell me that I might be disappointed. After all we’ve been deceived so many times, by movies that promised a lot and offered little. I was giving myself excuses not to get overly excited. ‘Meh,.. the 3D will probably be glitchy and annoying!’ or ‘the characters will probably look unnatural and childish’. And even if they got all the technical details right, they’ll probably mess up the story completely.  How many times have we seen a great story turned into commercial junk, that only sells a couple of hours of blood and half naked body-builders? (Yes, 300, I’m talking about you!).

And then the movie started, [drum roll]… Oh my God the 3D looked AWESOME! It was so cartoony yet so elegant and refined. So much work has been put in the details and the movement of the characters. So far so good. And then the story: 5 minutes in and I’m already biting my hand out of excitement. Could this be real? Is it really going to be that good? Apparently yes! I did not get 2 minutes of rest or the usual portion of boring scenes that accompanies any movie. It was so fast-paced and action filled that I felt that I was running and jumping with the characters. It was a superb experience.

So you will probably tell me, ‘wow Ahmed, you seem to like it a lot then (not very usual for you!) and it seems that it exceeded your expectations!” Well… not exactly!

You see, I never read Tintin’s comics because it was in 3D or because Spielberg and Peter Jackson had anything to do with it. It was just a comic written by a Belgian guy, and actually the first one I read was in black and white! But I enjoyed every bit of it. Why? Because he (Tintin) was more than just a journalist looking for a good story to report on, or even an adrenaline junkie, looking for the rush of the adventure. I liked Tintin because he represented the authentic idealist, that wouldn’t hesitate to go to the far ends of the world to do what he believed to be right. And this is what I think the movie didn’t capture enough. But then again this is my own point of view. You can go see it for yourself and I’m sure that will definitely find something to love about the movie.

Ahmed Abdel Al