Not Quite a Zombie Friday or Even a Friday

[amberfocus]

I think it's actually been ages since I watched a zombie movie or even an apocalypse movie, though I did actually watch this movie on Friday. It was The Adventures of Tin Tin, which was amazingly good, though it was animated. Although it was animated in that way where the people and things look almost real, not like cartoons, and not like Pixar. I did think it was really odd that there were only two female characters in the entire movie and one of them (the landlady) had maybe 45 seconds of screen time. And the other lady was a singer, so she basically sang a song and maybe had a line or two. Otherwise it was pretty much boys' adventure time, set in maybe 1920's or 30's Paris (I think, they were playing French music and showed the Eiffel Tower, but everyone was speaking English with English accents) and then a few other places.

But it was funny and witty and the plot was excellent. A reporter named Tin Tin buys a model ship in the market place which turns out to have a partial treasure map inside. Then he and his dog are basically chased all over hill and dale while he figures out what the heck is going on. The dog is an amazing character all on his own, I swear the head villain was modeled after Steven Speilberg in appearance (he was the director), and they just exaggerated his features. There are pirates, and they end up somewhere in India or the Middle East (it's never really quite clear what country, though they do give the city name), but they are wearing flowy clothes that look more Indian from that time period than Arab or Persian and there is a British military force there, so likely India. Although I swear the Great Wall of China was there in one scene. I don't know. I swear it made sense in the movie.

I really, really enjoyed it, and I kept thinking Tin Tin sounded like Jude Law so I looked it up afterwards. It wasn't Jude Law. And then as I was perusing the list of people involved with the movie, I saw who the writer was. And it kind of made me angry. Because the plot made sense (except maybe the Great Wall bit), it went sensibly straight through from beginning to end, the few flash backs in it were not the least bit timey whimey and it was funny and incredibly well-written. The words "hot mess" didn't even occur to me. Yes, I'm sure you've guessed from that description that the writer was none other than Steven Moffat. (This is where the end of the world theme comes in, y/y?) And if he can do that consistently for a 2.5 hour movie, why the hell can't he do that for my beloved Doctor Who?! And also I suddenly understood why there were no women to speak of in this boys' adventure. *sighs*

Still, it really was an excellent movie and I highly reccommend it, even if you don't have children to watch it with. Credit where credit is due, after all.

Comments

[rebeccaclark.livejournal.com]

Um.... most of the things you are complaining about are kind of the plot of the Tintin books. They're a series of comics/graphic novels written by a Frenchman named Herge. They were written in French but translate well into English. For example, the film features all of the female characters from the entire series of books, and the time period it's set in is... unclear at best. Fun though it is to blame Moffat, I don't think it's his fault.

[jessicaqueen.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen the film yet, but I know Edgar Wright had as much of a hand in the screenplay as Moffat, and there might have been other writers involved as well that I don't know about. I have to say, though, that when you're at the stage where you need Edgar Wright of all people to make your writing more sane, you're in trouble. I love him, but he's hardly known for realism.

[larxene-12.livejournal.com]

*re reads that last bit* You're kidding me... Right?

Still, the movie did look good, in that 'I'll rent it when it comes out on DVD' sort of way. Maybe I'll actually get around to doing so, if that thing called life doesn't keep getting in the way.

Glad to see you're feeling better, though. :)

[amberfocus.livejournal.com]

It was really good. Once in a while Moffat gets it right, just not often enough with Who. It is out on DVD. I got it from a DVDExpress (like Redbox, different brand) kiosk. I almost never go to the theather.

[hungrytiger11.livejournal.com]

To be fair, Herge (a Belgian. Tintin lives in Brussels, though this isn't mentioned in the film), wrote the Tintin comic strips for the Belgian version of the Boy Scouts when it was created in the 1930s. I think this explains part of why there are so few female characters.

So glad you liked the film! The comics and the animated cartoon series based on the comic books are actually quite good adventure stories too. Perhaps part of the reason Moffat's writing style here is so different than what is seen on Dr. Who is 1) he was working off of a source material, so the basic plot is there and 2) he has the producers and directors overseeing/editing work, whereas in Dr. Who, isn't he currently the top guy when it comes to writing?