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The Three Investigators and the Secret of Skeleton Island (2007)

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15 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
Could have been worse, but clearly also could have been better, 3 October 2007

Author: abaris_amalia from Hamburg, Germany

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Just saw this one in a preview screening at the Hamburg Filmfest. As a long time fan of the early books and audio tapes which have been a great success here in Germany for decades, naturally I had certain expectations for this first movie version of a Three Investigators story. And by "certain" I mean, I already knew this was the first big international movie from Studio Hamburg (the production company) and so I could imagine the style to be quite a commercial as-mainstream-as-possible one. After all, it's a franchise product, isn't it? Well, I was not wrong.

To all the fans: Don't expect an authentic Three Investigators movie. Okay, there are some nods to the old school fan community, but they're sparse and don't really go with the flow, and then that's about it. It's a decent movie for children (although not really appropriate for the very young ones, some scenes may be too frightening), and it still can be interesting for the parents or of kind of an academic interest to the usual grown-up fan, but there are too much points where the protagonists just don't behave like the original characters would have. Also they don't really look that much as how the characters are described in the books. Bob doesn't even wear glasses, for whatever reason...

It's very obvious the movie is designed for this target audience notoriously called "kids". Not children, that is, but kids. It could have been worse of course, at least the boys don't wave mobile phones around, wear baggy pants and listen to hip hop via iPods (only once it starts to get too silly when they pull an itching powder blowgun with even a laser pointer mounted on top!). The makers fortunately chose to display a setting which is quite timeless in appearance. But then they try just too hard to please by putting in some die-hardish action scene, some james-bondish, some mission-impossiblish and some indiana-jonesish stuff and even - how misguided could they get - ROMANCE! While in the original story the three boys become friends with another boy, here this is changed to be a girl (a decision obviously led by marketing considerations). And the first comment one of the boys makes when they first see her, believe it or not, is something along the lines of "Wow, what a hot chick!" Though the boys are displayed as very young ones, as young as one could possibly imagine the characters from the most early books. When the original Three Investigators met girls, they dealt completely different with these encounters. They simply had no business with love interests back then, they were serious detectives only concerned to their mystery cases! It seems the writers of the screenplay had a merely superficial understanding about what made the Three Investigators special from the start - or they were pressed just too hard for prostitution.

By the way, the story has almost nothing to do with the original book episode of the same name. Besides the three main characters there are only two other persons which also appear in the original story (Peter's father and Faraday). The actual villain even turns out to be one from completely different episodes. While the elements which make up the case are typical for TTI stories mostly, it all comes around just too forced, too artificial. At least for the fans, I guess. For everyone else the movie might be a nice family fun ride (the children in the audience laughed at all the moments where it was intended), but then nothing particularly special. The only thing that would make this movie stick out, namely it being a TTI adaptation, of all things is what doesn't work that well. But on the other hand, to make this work well might be an impossible enterprise, considering how hard core the fan community has become over the many years and how diverse and inconsistent the TTI universe has become anyway.

We'll see how the producers will pull off the next installment, which they said is already underway...

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7 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
A good movie but not the book, not at all, 9 November 2007

Author: ONIT from Germany

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Yesterday I had the opportunity to watch 'The Secret of Skeleton Island'. To keep it simple: I liked the movie. Nonetheless, the movie is obviously made for a family audience, kids, younger teens. As Wikipedia says 'The Three Investigators' are a juvenile detective book series, good mystery books for kids/teens. The movie tries to be the same. In my opinion they succeed even though the changes are more than obvious. 'The Secret of Skeleton Island' as a book is up to 5 percent in the movie. 95 percent are modernized, relocated etc. For those you know and love the books (or tapes): you will not be bored because you don't know the story. The question is: is it a good thing? What was changed? The movie has plenty of humor. It is funny, yes, but do we want to remember 'Home Alone' by seeing 'The Secret of Skeleton Island'? Bob seems to know more than Jupiter. That is odd. The investigators are younger than expected. Yet, filming several movies will let them grow into it. The location of the movie is South Africa. Quiet interesting. It enriches the movie. The 4th kid is a girl. That's OK if you forget the puberty scenes. What was good about it? As I already said. South Africa was a good choice even if the topic eventually comes to the different races. Jupiter appears to be a little Sherlock Holmes (just a little bit) and mentally grown-up. I liked the popping up of hints. Hints towards other cases, e.g. 'The Stuttering Parrot' or 'Terror Castle'. From the beginning of the movie you have the impression of other movies: - James Bond (music, starting scene), - Indiana Jones (cave). The only thing I still can't answer myself: are the changes good and do I want it similar in 'Terror Castle' or more like the book?

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0 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
if it would be any good..., 24 May 2008

Author: AccessCardRequired

the film would have a US theatrical release - don't you think. Saw the film, loved the books as a kid, but please what what this all about? Nothing of the flick reminded me of the lovely books. The kids are too polished, too wise, too boring - that is not the acting, but the weak, weak script they had too suffer trhough. Why South Africa? I can tell you, cause it is cheap to shoot there, nothing else. The film was a major disappointment in Germany (box office). Generated some 900.000 viewers - tha'ts not enough to recoup the investment of nearly 10. Mill Euros in budget. No idea, why they made another one. Too sad, great promise, weak, very weak result.

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