History WesternAnimation / TheAdventuresOfTintin2011

* PrecisionFStrike: Tintin says that Sir Francis would be "damned" if he let Red Rackam have the treasure.

** [[spoiler:Notice what color Sakharine wears throughout the entire movie. And his character design just screams Rasputin, with a very [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Alternate Universe Spock-esque]] beard.]]

* AdaptationAmalgamation: While this film is set as an adaptation of the Secret of the Unicorn comic, the story borrows elements from ''The Crab with the Golden Claws'' as well. In particular, Tintin being kidnapped and imprisoned on the Kariboujan, the introduction of Captain Haddock, and their crashing of a seaplane and subsequent trek through the Sahara Desert together is all lifted from that story.

** Captain Haddock, especially in comparison to his original appearance in ''The Crab with the Golden Claws'', where he causes more trouble than he solves. In this movie [[spoiler:he climbs out the seaplane in midflight and refuels it with his Alcohol-laden belch, takes part in the crazy motorcycle chase for the parchments, and fights the BigBad in a crane duel.]] In fact the climatic battle almost entirely belongs to Haddock, with Tintin's main contribution being [[spoiler:saving the parchments from being burnt at the last minute.]]

* AdaptationalVillainy: Ivan Sakharine is a much more malevolent character than he was in the comics, where he played little more than a bit part as the unlucky owner of the second Unicorn model, who Haddock even invites to his maritime gallery at the end of the ''Unicorn'' arc and apparently donated his model ship to him. Ironically, he was one of the only characters who Tintin accuses mistakenly of being a villain. Having no background whatsoever, he originally had no grudge against or even connection to [[spoiler:Captain Haddock]] (nor did the Bird Brothers, for what it's worth: generational vengeance is not exactly a feature of the Tintin comics). Interestingly and very surprisingly, the LicensedGame based on the movie actually uses the Bird brothers from the comic as the villains instead of Sakharine.

* AlcoholInducedIdiocy: The page image comes from the comic the movie is based on... and yes, that scene does make it into the movie. Along with multiple instances of this.
* AlcoholIsGasoline: Tintin and Captain Haddock are flying a sea plane through a thunderstorm, unfortunately they are almost out of fuel. In a last desperate gambit, Tintin suggests Haddock pour the medicinal spirits in the planes first aid kit into the fuel tank, hoping it will enable them to fly just a bit further and give them the opportunity to land. Unfortunately, [[TheAlcoholic Haddock]] had already drunk them. Inspired by Tintin's comment their running on fumes, he instead forces himself to belch into the tank, his breath already being established to be laced with booze. Sure enough it proves so potent it not just restarts the engine but causes it to catch fire.

* AnimatedCreditsOpening: Similar to Spielberg's previous film ''Film/CatchMeIfYouCan'', with multiple references to the other Tintin books.

* BestialityIsDepraved: During the scene where Tintin tries to recover some keys from a sleeping man, Haddock explains about some of his former crewmen. One of them was a shepherd once, but he was kicked out because of his "animal husbandry."

* BilingualBonus: At one point, Sakharine is addressed by Castafiore as "Monsieur Shuggair Addeitiff", the French word for "additive". Saccharine is... wait for it... an additive used in place of... sugar.

* BloodlessCarnage: The Pirate flashback is chockful of sword and gun killings, all without a single red stain, save for the sword wound Rackham receives -- and even ''then'' it's not really bleeding much. Averted with Barnaby's death.

* CirclingBirdies: Diegetic birdies, no less! They escaped from a cage.

** Barnaby is a composite of Barnaby from ''Secret of the Unicorn'' and Dawes from ''The Crab With the Golden Claws''. He even combines their names.

** A particularly heartwarming one at that. The late Creator/{{Herge}} appears at the beginning of the film as a caricaturist who Tintin pays to draw his likeness, while drawing him [[HaveWeMet Hergé comments that Tintin looks familiar]] and then reveals his finished work: a portrait of the [[Franchise/{{Tintin}} comic book version of Tintin]].

-->'''Haddock:''' You two-timing troglodyte! You simpering son of a pug-faced profiteer! (''Sakharine drops him'') ''Fathead!''

* EpicTrackingShot: The above-mentioned chase sequence. Sure it's done in CGI, but seriously, ''wow.''

** Red Rackham coldly executes the Francis' crew after promising to spare them, by dropping them into the water while tied up, where they are implied to be eaten by sharks.

* GenerationXerox: [[spoiler:Haddock and Sakharine with their ancestors.]]
* GlassShatteringSound: Castafiore's voice. At first, Tintin doesn't know what Haddock and Snowy are complaining about. Then she hits a really high note and shatters not only everyone but Sakharine's glasses but also [[spoiler:the bulletproof case holding the third model ship.]] Oh, and the chandeliers, and the crystal ware, and the shiek's glasses too.

* HamToHamCombat: Haddock and Sakharine. You can practially smell the bacon frying. [[spoiler:Same goes for their ancestors.]]

* HostageForMacGuffin: Both Sakharine [[spoiler:and his ancestor]] seem fond of this trope.

'''Tintin:''' (''[[DramaticGunCock cocks pistol]]'') [[BadassBoast We've got one bullet.]]

* LockingMacGyverInTheStoreCupboard: Tintin's escape from one room on the ''Karaboudjan''.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: [[spoiler:The {{Reincarnation}} angle behind Haddock and Sakharine's rivalry. Haddock appears to have some extremely vivid visions of the battle on the Unicorn and Red Rakham's death, implying that he's "remembering" his past life. In his final moments, Rakham also curses Sir Francis so they will continue their fight in "another time" and "another life." On the other hand, Haddock could just be figuring things out and the flashbacks are a visualization of his realization through what he knows about the story of the Unicorn. Things are further muddied by Haddock's flashbacks showing Sir Francis' first mate look ''[[{{Foreshadowing}} exactly]]'' like Nestor, who is later revealed to be a secret ally to the Haddock family.]]
* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: Often. This is especially evident during the Bagghar chase, where sharp-eyed viewers might notice that several seemingly innocous elements are briefly visible in the background before suddenly becoming important -- like the tank that crashes into the hotel.

** Hergé has already drawn the Bird Brothers (original villains in ''Secret''), Colonel Fahd, the hospital superintendent and Dr. Sarcophagus from "Cigars of the Pharaoh," Fakir Ramacharma and Didi from "The Blue Lotus," Dr. Muller in his "Land of Black Gold" design, Professor Phostle from "The Shooting Star," Al Capone and detective Detective Macadam from "Tintin in America," Dr. Ridgewell from "The Broken Ear," Senhor Oliveira de Figueira, Bill from "Red Rackham's Treasure," Professor Alembick (one of Tintin's traveling partners in ''King Ottokar's Sceptre''), his twin brother Alfred and Kavanovitch (a Syldavian agent from the same comic) at his cartoon booth in the market.

** ''King Ottokar's Sceptre'': A newspaper clipping in his apartment, and a sign outside a building with Syldavia's Coat of Arms.
*** The purple dress Castafiore wears to perform in, as well as the composition of the shot where Castafiore is singing for Ben Salaad and his guests, comes straight from the scene in ''King Ottokar's Sceptre'' where she performs for the Syldavian court.

** In the scene where Hergé is drawing Tintin at the beginning of the movie, there are drawings of characters from the comic series. One of them is Didi, Mr. Wang's son from ''The Blue Lotus''.

* TheOner: The whole [[spoiler:Bagghar chase scene]] is this, in which Tintin, Snowy, and Captain Haddock are on a motorcycle chasing down a bird holding [[spoiler:the three scrolls leading to Sir Francis Haddock's sunken treasure]]. They race through (as well as lay waste to) the entire town, and the camera shifts from person to person as they all get separated. The camera never cuts once, and it lasts for approximately two and a half minutes.

* SeadogBeard: [[CharacterCatchphrase Thundering typhoons!]] Do you think we could have a proper Tintin movie if Captain Archibald Haddock didn't have one of these?

* SexForServices: It is implied that Sakharine slept with Bianca Castafiore: "Allow me to introduce my ''escort'': Monsiuer Shuggair Addeitiff. He's been very [beat] ''passionate'' in his support of this concert." The brief but distinctly uncomfortable look on Sakharine's face as she says it reveals even more....
* SharkFinOfDoom: Invoked when Tintin swims underwater for a surprise ambush towards the men on the seaplane, with his tuft of hair sticking out of the water in a shark fin fashion.

* StickyFingers: Aristides Silk, the pickpocket, has an unusual obsession with wallets; he has a whole room full of the wallets he stole. Thompson and Thomson barely get the hint and he had to shout out that he is a thief.

* TomTheDarkLord: You wouldn't take a man named "Sakharine" seriously... until you saw him, at least. Lampshaded by Hadock calling him "The sour faced man with the sugary name."
* TurbineBlender: After crashing in the desert, Snowy and Captain Haddock just barely prevent a fainted Tintin from sliding down and getting blended head-first by the seaplane's still rotating propeller blades.
* UnreliableExpositor: At one point Haddock inserts his own alcoholism into the story of the ''Unicorn'' until Tintin gets him to focus.

* XRaySparks: Seen briefly when Haddock is hit by lightning.

** ''The Crab with the Golden Claws'': A statue of a crab with Golden Claws in a fountain in Omar Ben Salaad's palace and a crate of cans show up in the harbour, which Snowy uses to trip up some goons. The entire movie sequence between Tintin's kidnapping and his arrival in Bagghar (minus captain Haddock's dream about his ancestor) is directly taken from ''The Crab with the Golden Claws''. Ben Salaad himself was, of course the original villain (and therefore Allan's boss).

* ShoutOut: Captain Haddock's reaction to seeing Snowy is a reference to Franchise/SherlockHolmes: "the giant rat of Sumatra" was mentioned as one of the many cases Watson never actually wrote up. This also doubles as a reference to one of Peter Jackson's earliest films, ''Film/BrainDead''.

* ShoutOut:
** Captain Haddock's reaction to seeing Snowy is a reference to Franchise/SherlockHolmes: "the giant rat of Sumatra" was mentioned as one of the many cases Watson never actually wrote up. This also doubles as a reference to one of Peter Jackson's earliest films, ''Film/BrainDead''.

** Thompson and Thomson telling Tintin that they're moving slowly with the investigations on Barnaby because they're "Still filling out paperwork!" and "Police work is not all glamour and gun, there's an awful lot of filing!" is a reference to ''Film/HotFuzz'' (due to Creator/EdgarWright's participation on the scripting of this movie), on top of being also an ActorAllusion to ''Hot Fuzz'' co-stars Creator/SimonPegg and Creator/NickFrost, who portray Thompson and Thomson.

** Thompson and Thomson telling Tintin that they're moving slowly with the investigations on Barnaby because they're "Still filling out paperwork!" and "Police work is not all glamour and gun, there's an awful lot of filing!" is a reference to ''Film/HotFuzz'' (due to Creator/EdgarWright helping out the scripting of this film), on top of being also an ActorAllusion to ''Hot Fuzz'' co-stars Creator/SimonPegg and Creator/NickFrost, who portray Thompson and Thomson.

* ShoutOut: Captain Haddock's reaction to seeing Snowy is a reference to Franchise/SherlockHolmes: "the giant rat of Sumatra" was mentioned as one of the many cases Watson never actually wrote up. This also doubles as a reference to one of Peter Jackson's earliest films, ''Film/BrainDead''.

* GravityIsAHarshSeamstress: During the motorcycle scene, Captain Haddock collides with a clothesline and spends the rest of the chase wearing a pink dress.

* SeadogBeard: [[{{Catchphrase}} Thundering typhoons!]] Do you think we could have a proper Tintin movie if Captain Archibald Haddock didn't have one of these?

** When they find a globe in a hidden room of the mansion's cellar, Haddock notices an island on the globe that doesn't exist in real life. Tintin realizes that Haddock's ancestor left the false island on the globe as a clue, in hopes that a true Haddock, a true sailor, would find it.

* EurekaMoment: When Tintin thinks the bad guys have won, Captain Haddock gives him an inspirational speech about never giving up, and a chance phrase gives Tintin an idea about how to regain the upper hand.

* StickyFingers: Aristide Silk, the pickpocket, has an unusual obsession with wallets; he has a whole room full of the wallets he stole. Thompson and Thomson barely get the hint and he had to shout out that he is a thief.

* TheThirties: The style of the cars, clothes, planes, etc. Also a newspaper clipping mentioning the events of ''King Ottokar's Sceptre'' gives the explicit date of 1938. Also, the bad guys' weapons are of evidently [[UsefulNotes/NazisWithGnarlyWeapons German]] origin. Interestingly enough, the official artbook tags the movie's date as [[TheForties 1949]], but the [[AnachronismStew models of some of the cars]] go as late as [[TheFifties 1953]]. The film's art director notes this was done because there were no new cars made during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, let alone cool ones. The tanks in Bagghar are of a definitely post-[=WW2=] design.