I grew up with Tintin et Milou. In fact, for everyone born in France, Belgium, Switzerland and a large part of Europe, it goes along with our earliest childhood memories. This is probably why Spielberg, Jackson, Paramount and Sony have decided to release the movie everywhere in the world before its 12/23 US opening. My wife is actually reading L'Etoile Mysterieuse (The Shooting Star) as we speak, which makes me nervous since it is a 1942 first edition worth a lot of money.
And I, for one, am SUPER excited to see the movie.
T