Colin Covert of "Star Tribune" gave the film four stars out of four and said that Spielberg's first venture into animation was his most delightful dose of pure entertainment since "Raiders of the Lost Ark". Amy Biancolli of the "San Francisco Chronicle" wrote: "Such are the timeless joys of the books (and now the movie), this sparkling absurdity and knack for buckling swash under the worst of circumstances. The boy may have the world's strangest cowlick, but he sure can roll with the punches". Roger Ebert of "Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film three and a half stars out of four, calling it "an ambitious and lively caper, miles smarter than your average 3-D family film". He praised the setting of the film, stating its similarity to the original "Tintin" comic strips and was also pleased with the 3-D technology used in the film, saying that "Spielberg employed it as an enhancement to 2-D instead of an attention-grabbing gimmick".