"How's your thirst for adventure, Captain?"

As a child, I never read Hergé's Tintin. My knowledge of animation characters were limited to what Doordarshan showed us or to the pages of regional translated version of "Tinkle". I didn't even know how Mr. Tintin looked like until I had seen trailer of Spielberg's recently released "The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn". Being a devoted Tintin follower, my wife was excited about it - so we had our schedule booked to watch it on the first day of its release. To be precise (you'd know why I used this phrase), I liked the movie. It is fun, a real good fun. And it is Spielberg - that adds to the fun factor.

For me, this movie is another Indiana Jones with some amazing CGI and 3D work. The characters seem so real on screen !! I was amazed. The movie starts with Tintin owning a model ship Unicorn - little did he know that this seemingly ordinary action of him would unleash a series of adventurous happenings beyond expectation. Why are everybody after the Unicorn? What secret does it hold?

In a way, being unaware of the original cartoon series was a good thing for me. Characters like that cute little, but extremely smart dog Snowy, funny Captain Haddock, crooked Mr. Sakharine - all were new to me. I could enjoy the movie without having to compare it with the series, and not getting too twirled in the intricacies of what is altered and what is dropped unlike that annoying girl sitting next to my wife. She was so pre-occupied with her overly overwhelming knowledge of the cartoon series that hardly did her mouth shut during the entire screening - pity her visibly pissed boyfriend !!!

Spielberg, as usual, is a master of details. Like his Indian Jones series, this movie too has such breathtaking views and cool, I mean cool-as-a-freezer action sequences perfectly blended with doses of laughter to keep audiences occupied. There were a few moments that I personally feel a little bland - for example the references on alcohol got too far stretched at times.

Overall, this is another damn interesting action-animation from a master movie maker (oh did I mention the movie was co-produced by Sir Peter Jackson - remember LOTR?) that you don't wanna miss. As Tintin would have said, "How's your thirst for adventure, Captain?"