The adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn is the full title of a new film by Steven Spielberg. Tintin is the creation of Belgian comic artist Herge who has sold over 200 million copies worldwide.

Tintin was created in the 1920’s for kids section in a Roman Catholic newspaper. Right from the start Tintin was brave and pure. No girlfriend, no vices, in fact nothing to distracting from his pure moral code and fighting for truth and justice. Partly this was what the catholic newspaper wanted but it was also very much what Herge wanted. He was a keen boy scout and was always eager to set a positive example for his readers. So long after Herge left his original publishers and set-up his own publishing house, Tintin kept is upright, pure moral code.

The film is based on the book The Secret of the Unicorn but include elements from many of other books and presumably the second part of the adventure – Red Rackham’s Treasure. It seems that there will be elements of The Crab with the Golden Claws in the film as well. These three books do combine to give a nice story arc around Tintin’s greatest friend Captain Haddock.

Spielberg’s direction of Tintin is causing some fans to worry. Herge’s hero is very much a European character and there is some worry the Spielberg will Americanise it too much. Or worse, turn it into one of his kid movies that are overly sentimental. In the books, Tintin almost never shows emotions. He is calm and distant from the events around him. Only occasionally, such as in Tintin in Tibet does he show a lot of emotion.

How will the film look? is another worry for the fans. Herge used a Ligne Claire style that is highly distinctive. Ligne Claire (or clear line in English) uses a consistent width of black line around areas of flat colours. There are no shading or shadows in this style of work. The result is a very bold style that allows great detail in the drawings and yet retains clarity. To achieve this style on the screen, Spielberg is working with Peter Jackon’s Weta special effects company. Everything is to be CGI but using movement captured from human actors. This is the technique used in Lord of the Rings to create Gollum. Jack and Spielberg are promising that the techology at their disposal will allow them to create a lifelike world that keeps the bold style of Herge.

The film, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn is in production now. Motion capture started in February 2009 and the expected release date is 2011.