The Three Investigators and the Secret of Terror Castle

Many, many years ago, just before my friends and I entered out teens, The Three Investigator series of books were almost required reading. This was well before the days of Harry Potter and iPads and, indeed, the Internet. Play Stations and the like did not exist. Even Frogger and Pacman were many years away. I don't remember how many of the books there were, but it sure seemed like a lot of them. I would finish one book and then look for the next, hoping that one of my friends hadn't borrowed it from the library already. Fortunately, our school library seemed to have a good supply. I did not realize that someone had decided to make a couple of movies based on the characters and scenarios found in The Three Investigator books till I stumbled across this one. I am now well past the target age for the books (are they even still available???) and, therefore, for this movie but nostalgia and curiosity got the better of me and I just had to watch and, hopefully, rekindle some old childhood memories.

I admit, I didn't have really high expectations for this movie, but I hoped that maybe I would be pleasantly surprised and find that the movies are actually quite enjoyable and a worthy reminder of my youth. Sadly, I was not pleasantly surprised. My initial low expectations were proven correct. These movies use the characters from the books but that's about where any familiarity with the books stops. Admittedly, my memory of the books has faded somewhat, but I have no recollection of them containing as much action and mayhem as the movie does. There was not the use of technology that appears at times in the movie. Heck, we didn't even have technology back then! And Jupiter Jones wasn't such bad as he appears to be here.

So, if you're a nostalgic adult, you can safely give this a miss. This isn't the Three Investigators you remember. If you're a pre-teen though, at the age I was when I read the books, and you have no familiarity with the books, you'll probably enjoy this. There are some adult themes and an unfortunate lack of tension, but there are enough explosions and secret passages and dumb sheriffs to keep preteens amused. I hope so. They may even be inspired to look for the books, although I suspect they'll be quite dated by now.

This movie appears to be the second in a Three Investigator series. It seems to have set itself up for a sequel. I don't think any more were made and, sadly, I don't care.

This was my absolute favorite of the Alfred Hitchcock and the 3 investigators series - the book is a fantastic, I actually picked up a used copy a few years ago just to re-read one of my childhood favorites.

The movie does not do justice to the book - While I thought the character actors/actresses were great, the acting of the sheriff left something to be desired -

I also hated to see the movie re-written to have the destruction of this terrific castle at the end - but the sets were great - I loved seeing the way the castle was designed.

Hopefully we will see more of the 3 investigators series, with better writing, and more attention to the other minor roles, with better acting and lines.

I watched this movie yesterday, it was aired by an Italian network. As an ancient reader of Three Investigators novels...what to say ? Something didn't work, in my opinion. What ? Chiefly the depiction of Pete and Bob characters. In the movie the authors made them muddlers, goofy and for what concerns Pete in particular, too much frightful. In a word, the movie shows comical personas...you don't find anything similar in books, where the humour is 'between the lines' and almost completely limited to Jupe's meetings with Hitchcock. Speaking of Jupe, I don't know, maybe it's just me, but reading novels I never imagined him always so frowned and pensive. Besides these considerations, the movie is not bad at all and can be viewed, but surely it will be enjoyed, as it was already remarked, more by young viewers than old readers.

Like many movies based on a book, this one takes many liberties with the story. That is understandable considering that the plot of the original book would not have worked in the 21st century. However, being a fan of the books saying that this movie has a great Scooby-Doo ending isn't exactly a glowing compliment. The biggest lure of the books is the intelligence written into them. The science in the books has an air of plausibility, especially for the time when they were written. The movie does have glimmers of that, but it falls apart at the end like the stereotypical cartoon. Not a bad movie at all, as long as you aren't expecting a Three Investigators quality story.

My 11 year old grandson, a recently initiated fan of the books, was much more receptive. He was excited to see many of the book aspects come to life, and he was happy with the 21st century updates. He was clearly the target demo for this movie, and he loved it. My rating is a combination of his 10 and my 5.

As a child I read many of the three investigators books, being my favourite series. Discovering that a film had been made about the characters I had grown to love was wonderful, but would it live up to my expectations? Sadly, it was a little disappointing. There was good action, and Im sure children will find it entertaining, but I feel much of the treasures in the book are missing. The exciting headquarters, hidden in the midst of a junk yard, only accessible by several mysterious tunnels is reduced to a caravan out in the open. Jupiter Jones, a brilliant mind, full of sharp remarks and the lead role in the book is barely intelligent and just dull and grey. The dialogue was also put together without giving much sense of feeling. Its not a big Hollywood production, so hats of for what they achieved, and I'm glad for the chance to have watched the books come to life.