The uncanny valley rears its head in the new teaser for the motion captured Hergé adaptation, The Adventures of Tintin (previously subtitled, Secret of the Unicorn) from director Stephen Spielberg and producer Peter Jackson, sporting a script by the current Dr. Who head writer Steven Moffat and Edgar Wright & Joe Cornish. The film stars Jamie Bell at Tintin, Daniel Craig, Andy Serkis, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Gad Elmaleh, Toby Jones and Mackenzie Crook.

It’s probably telling that they avoided any shots with people talking (at least with synced sound); every motion-captured effort I’ve seen to date has, at best, looked a bit dodgy once the figures are in motion. At their worst, they look like corpses with sticks shoved up their bums, bouncing around like mop puppets. And while this certainly looks better than that, I can’t say I’m crazy about the too-“realistic” character designs. But then, I’m biased — I adore the original comics, and I had hoped for a less photoreal, more stylized approach to the motion capture. I don’t think it’s an inherently bad technique, just that it hasn’t yet been used well. (Yes, I saw Beowulf.)

Those of you who aren’t as attached to the originals: what do you think?

The Adventures of Tintin hits theaters on December 23rd.