Why does The Guardian hate Tintin?

Buuuuurned!
Nice one.

Ps - I fucking hate Tintin too.
Not the film, just the comics.

ok - I stand by all that previous comment, apart from the fact I've called you Joe, Ali - apologies ...

Interesting read, thanks Joe - and genuinely nice to know someone is studying our output carefully. I half wish I could confirm the theory we're running a campaign against the new Tintin film, with all the associated implications that would have for our logistics, finances, spare time and editorial apparatus. Sadly I can't.

I'd suggest this impression may be partly a consequence of everything ending up online (we're a big paper, with a lot of sections, and a lot of digital-only content, but the differences between each piece are much less clear on your basic article page – something we're trying to remedy).

This may have been compounded by your possible confusion about the word 'op-ed'. That's a specific term, implying that an agenda is being pushed, and referring to the column that runs opposite the editorial in the main news section of a paper. Of course, if we were launching a campaign, a more effective way would be to use the 'ed' bit – ie the 'leader'. But, anyway, none of these pieces ran in such a slot; indeed the only one that ran in the main news section was Xan's early review (as is customary).

Let's take the articles individually. We're a news organisation; that means we review big films. So that's four of the pieces accounted for:
the early review - as per any major release (http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/oct/16/tintin-adventures-secret-of-unicorn)
the official Peter Bradshaw review in Film & Music (http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/oct/27/the-adventures-of-tintin-review)
Philip French in the Observer (http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/oct/30/the-adventures-of-tintin-review)
and a video review as part of the Reel review series (http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/video/2011/oct/28/tintin-video-review)

By and large, our critics came to similar conclusions about the quality of the film - my suspicion is that's more of a reflection on it than us. But none of these reviews are mad damns (nb those that are capable of having star ratings are both two star jobs) - they're considered and balanced and they do praise aspects of the movie.

We must also of course cover Tintin in our weekly UK box office column: but I absolutely reject accusations of partiality in these. They're careful analyses – Charles Gant is a really scrupulous reporter and writer:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2011/nov/01/tintin-adventures-take-off-raone
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2011/nov/08/adventures-tintin-weekend-box-office

And it means different sections of the paper commission their own features on the film – in this case G2's piece by die-hard Tintin comics fan Nick Lezard (http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/oct/18/how-could-do-this-tintin), Film & Music's about the tech side by Steve Rose (http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/oct/27/tintin-uncanny-valley-computer-graphics), and the Review section's more literary take by Tom McCarthy (http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/oct/28/adventures-tintin-secret-unicorn-spielberg). Online, Phil Hoad wrote about it as part of his After Hollywood series, as a peg for a piece about Spielberg in general, and the implications of his career on the rest of the biz (http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2011/nov/01/steven-spielberg-lost-his-mojo).

Again: all these pieces aren't straight trashes – they wouldn't be commissioned or run if they were. But the fact that our writers mostly weren't massive fans of the film, once they'd seen it, suggests to me it's possible it may not be very good.

I'm sure you've seen that those pieces we ran about the film before the first screening were pretty positive: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2011/jul/11/tintin-trailer (trailer blog)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2011/jul/25/comic-con-2011-tintin-steven-spielberg (comic con report)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2011/oct/07/tintin-cgi-spielberg-jackson (an excited week in geek column)

But I fail to see why we ought to run more now simply to give balance for balance's sake. (Although you seem to have missed this Jonathan Jones blog engaging with the debate and sticking up for the film: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2011/nov/04/tintin-herge-fans-spielberg-film)

Those who feel differently have also had ample opportunity to chip in in the comment threads or to write their own review of the film on our site (no-one seems to have been moved to do so yet in fact http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/movie/142790/adventures-of-tintin/review), as well as writing their own pieces about it – like this one, for instance.

The PRs, distribs and studio handling this film have raised no objection, by the way.

For what it's worth, though I think you've got the wrong end of the stick here, I think this is a really interesting piece, and that news orgs etc ought to have their output examined with care and scepticism. I'd like personally to read more about the politics of film writing and criticism, and I hope you'll continue doing this sort of piece in the future - I'll certainly be looking out for them now!

All best wishes,
Catherine
Film editor, Guardian News & Media
(catherine.shoard@guardian.co.uk)

Surely I'm not the first one to spot the link: Tintin is an earnest, slightly dull, boy reporter who takes everything a bit too seriously but still goes on spiffing adventures. And boys who read his books and wanted to grow up like him may have then joined the staff of the Guardian - and been slightly bitter about the ensuing lack of spiffing adventures.

I don't get the argument against motion capture where they claim they look freakish and inhuman. They're not supposed to look human they're supposed to look like the cartoons.

They've also today analysed its box office gross over the week, trying to spin "the biggest opening for an animated film this year" as if it's still struggled: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2011/nov/01/tintin-adventures-take-off-raone

I love The Guardian but some of their entertainment writers are nothing more than trolls, intentionally writing inflamatory pieces to raise the ire of the internet and get more page views.