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Monster kills police chief! Police clueless!


The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec 
(2010) 

I'm not familiar with the source material for this, although Luc Besson - who now seems to be only mostly retired if it means making the occasional film with his kids in mind - has the visual acumen to make a live action Tintin should it ever fall from the paws of the motion capturers. 

The problem here is that, whilst he creates an interesting and larger-than-life period milieu, Besson's material never rises above the amiably quirky and incidental. So it's fairly unmemorable, Adele's flashback to Egypt tomb raiding aside. And while the prosthetics-enhanced grotesques that populate the supporting roles create a consistency, other effects work, the CGI pterodactyl in particular (and later Egyptian mummies), is less impressive and shows up the budget constraints. 

I wish I'd liked this more, but unfortunately the "Indiana Jones meets Amelie" quote from Empire on the DVD sleeve is merely wishful thinking.

**

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