Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson's The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn is due for release at the end of 2011. Boasting a budget in excess of £100 million and featuring state-of-the-art 3D motion-capture technology, the film is guaranteed to spark a new wave of interest in Hergé's intrepid Belgian reporter. Typically ahead of the game, the BFI has released two rarely-seen live-action Tintin films for the first time on DVD, Tintin And The Mystery Of The Golden Fleece from 1961 and Tintin And The Blue Oranges from 1964.

The story of The Golden Fleece begins when Tintin's short-tempered best friend Captain Haddock is bequeathed the eponymous ship by a late comrade. The Golden Fleece turns out to be an old rust-bucket, but Tintin and Haddock become suspicious when a shady businessman called Karabine offers to buy it for a vastly inflated sum. As with most seafaring adventures, there's a mystery of hidden treasure to be solved, so the pair – assisted by Tintin's dog Snowy, mad genius Professor Calculus and the bowler-hatted identical detectives Thomson and Thompson – set off to find it with the villains hot on their heels. In The Blue Oranges, the pursued become the pursuers as Tintin and co hunt the thieves of a miracle fruit that can grow anywhere and will make world hunger a thing of the past.

Tintin's creator Hergé (real name, Georges Remi – his pen name was the French pronunciation of RG, his initials reversed) expressed his approval of the actor chosen to play Tintin in the two films, a teenage fitness instructor called Jean-Pierre Talbot. 'Ah yes,' said Hergé, on meeting him, 'it's really him.' The Golden Fleece was the first live-action movie to be made about the character since his creation in 1929 and the filmmakers were indirectly helped by a recent Tintin animated series on Belgian TV. That series had adapted existing stories by Hergé, but he was very disappointed with the result and therefore favourably disposed towards the idea of an original screenplay and flesh and blood actors playing his creations.

The films have been described as James Bond movies for kids. If that's the case, The Golden Fleece is a lissome Goldfinger and The Blue Oranges is a galumphing Die Another Day. The Golden Fleece boasts stunning locations in Turkey and Greece, ruthless adversaries, convincing action sequences that make excellent use of Talbot's martial arts skills and deft comic timing by Georges Wilson as Captain Haddock. Also, as someone who's never been a fan of Tintin, I found the film's irresistible sense of fun and adventure quickly dispelled any lingering cynical thoughts about the curiously sexless hero, his middle-aged seaman pal and his There's Something About Mary quiff.

Despite input from another legend of European comic books, René Goscinny (the co-creator of Astérix), the second film is something of a disappointment. Georges Wilson was the heart of The Golden Fleece and he's been replaced by the more brutish Jean Bouise, who doesn't come close to matching his predecessor's roguish charm. It's as if Brian Blessed's Prince Vultan in Flash Gordon had instead been played by Roy Keane. There's also a regrettable tendency to lapse into slapstick, while the decision to shoehorn occasional comic-book techniques into the film suggests a lack of confidence in the live-action form.

It seems the cinema-going public felt the same way because the franchise ground to a halt after just two films. Nevertheless, there's plenty to enjoy in both these releases, which feature colourful new HD transfers and informative illustrated booklets. It'll be interesting to discover how successfully Messrs Spielberg and Jackson pick up the baton next year...

Tintin And The Mystery Of The Golden Fleece and Tintin And The Blue Oranges (BFI) are out now on DVD.

Colin Houlson