The following podcast contains no explicit language whatsoever.

Our apologies.

I'm Julia Turner, and this is the Slate Culture Gab Fest Riving Around in Dirt Edition.

It's Wednesday, December 28, 2010, and on today's program, we're going to talk about the Adventures of Tintin, Spielberg's new 3D version of

the Intrepid Belgian Adventurer Kid, the history of word processing, and how it affects

practitioners of literature, and Pina, a new 3D movie about the German choreographer.

Joining me today is Slate Senior Editor Dan Engbert. Hi, Dan. Welcome. Thank you. And our film critic, Dana Stevens. Hi, Dana. Hey, Julia. Did you have a nice holiday? Wonderful. We are steve-less today, but he will be back in the new year. All right, let's start with Tintin. Dana, since it is Steve's custom to ask you first about films. I have to do the scutwork with the films. I'm going to follow in Steve's where the snow lay dinted by Steve's footsteps. So what did you think of Spielberg's Tintin movie? I guess I would say that I enjoyed Tintin. I don't really see it being a lasting children's classic. I'm curious to hear what Dan has to say because he knows the comics very well and I have much more of a glancing knowledge of the comics. But I felt like it was a total labor of love, something that was made out of pure passion for the comics on Spielberg's part and tons of technical experimentation and you know tons of how

did he do that kind of technical moments also blessedly compact I like the fact that it was it didn't

feel like a big bloated blockbuster and it was just a hundred and something minutes long but is it

really a lasting enduring artifact I'm not sure I thought it was a bit busy and manic and hectic and

I suspect that fans of the comics think that it didn't capture the comic's spirit. But, Dan, you have to answer for that. Yes, we have an actual real true life fan of the comic here in studio, Dan. It's true. I think it did capture the spirit of the comic. So you like the movie? No. I think so I'm, I am, I was a Tintin super fan.

I think my Tintin super fandom is over having seen the movie, not because I hated the movie,

but just because the movie did seem a lot like the comic and still I was bored.

I mean, it's not really a surprise that as an adult, I'm bored by a children's

comic book character, I suppose. But yeah, it did. There were some moments in the movie where I felt

like I remembered my excitement about, and this sounds really cheesy, but about Tintin's

courage. And so that came across. There were points where I thought, wow, look at Tintin's courage. And so that came across.

There were points where I thought, wow, look at Tintin.

He's just willing to, you know, jump on that boat.

But then those passed, and I just kind of got a little.

Is that what you loved about the comics as a kid, his courage?

This is reverse engineered.

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