The Adventures of Tintin (2011)

Come for the set-pieces and tone (both dynamite), try not to leave from the inane twisting story and never-not-creepy mo-cap. Seriously, how is mo-cap animation still seen as a viable choice? It makes every character look like one of those “if the Simpsons were real” photos. I was excited pretty much exclusively because Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish were co-writers, but pretty much the only stuff that feels like Wright is that the story is as numbing and twisty as Hot Fuzz’s, only without the humor to act as a spoonful of sugar. Final chase scene is a doozy, but I’d trade in all the scale in the world for a main character who was the least bit interesting. It’s fun, but it’s certainly no Castle of Cagliostro.

Also odd to cast a comedy team like Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as voice actors only to make them change their voices and their dynamic, but it probably bought them a really nice vacation somewhere warm, so good on them. B-

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

Steve Rogers is a refreshingly earnest and wholesome hero, to the point where his valor actually moved me at points. The first half is character driven and everything I’d want from a superhero movie. The second half devolves into a series of action sequences, but they’re at least well shot and fun. B

Your Highness (2011)

A lot of inherent problems with this one: Making Franco the straight man, eliminating Danny McBride’s naturally funny dialect by forcing a horrible accent upon him. It can be funny, but it’s mostly a waste. C