Despite my interest in the character, I wasn’t aware until just recently that Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson’s adaptation of Hergé’s bande dessinée Tintin was going to be CGI. Part of me was excited by an old-school live-action adventure movie like Raiders of the Lost Ark, or at the very least rendered in something approximating the ligne claire school of cartooning. Unfortunately, my hopes were dashed when I learned that Spielberg recently wrapped up 32 days of motion-capture work for the project.

There are few things that rile me as much as motion-capture. Typically, it takes twice as much time and effort for something half as good as if you were to just keyframe it. It seems like just another way for clueless executives to pretend they have a hand in the creative process. That said, this could just be growing pains for the technology, in which case it’s entirely possible that motion capture could one day become good enough to be worth the hassle. But probably not. Still, I’m hopeful that I’m mistaken and my heart will grow three sizes on the day Tintin is release in theatres. Are Spielberg and Jackson a good match for Belgium’s favourite cub reporter?