Die drei ??? - Erbe des Drachen

This is the third movie and the second interaction of the very popular audio play series The Three Investigators (Die drei Fragezeichen in German).

This iteration works so much better than the original one. From set design to casting and cinematography.

The story is fun, but nothing too special. Keeping in mind that the series is aimed at a younger audience, this is perfectly fine.

The weak points are definitely the performances of Justus and Bob. Sometimes their lines seem to be recalled just before they were about to forget them. But honestly? That is perfectly okay. Anyone who knows the backstory of the original audio play can excuse fluttery acting performances from children.

Also, Peter delivers a really solid performance and apart from the aforementioned small problems of the other two main cast members, they actually look like the boys they are supposed to portray.

It's a fun, short, easy watch, especially if you enjoy the original series.

So close, and yet so far away. Setdesign and location scouting is stellar - bordering on really well done. Casting in parts did its job - thats the best rendition of a Bob and Peter so far - in any of the movies around. Both teen actors are amongst the best actors in the movie in general. Shot design has flashes of true greatness, when it was planned for longer than two seconds. Pickup exposition sequences with 2D art are very well done, score was very well picked - and thats where the positive parts end.

When casting a the "Three Investigators" movie you have exactly one task you cant possibly fail at. Don't cast a pretentious, out of his depth Justus (/Jupiter) Jonas. Who's younger than the others in the trio, and then stands in the middle of the frame, feeling out of place. Because his delivery was so bad (with scenes feeling like on set he wanted to make the others crack up to get at least some positive affirmation during shooting breaks, and that had crossed over into the actual scenes) - you could see him recalling lines from memory always a few milliseconds too late, that therefore you have given most of the exposition to Bob anyhow.

Its a Justus (/Jupiter) Jonas you simply cant cast.

You can see that the stage direction was there, because in some scenes he can fill his role, and he tries his best - but then its never the default and the role never comes naturally to him. When he nails his delivery, as an actor, the boy is quite good - so its not that he doesnt have the capability, its just - that it doesnt come natural.

And its probably not so much his fault, as it is the fault of the director - because there are scenes left in the movie that would have benefited from another five takes. The shot planning, when its done quickly during 80% of the movie falls flat. You miss closeups for emotional delivery, not just for the teen actors but in general. The framing is often bad (with effort spent on getting each character centered in the image or the entire trio in a shot), character introductions sometimes are done in medium long shots, when a shot needs to breath no one told the director to move the camera out for more impact, and the dialog sequences are stale, usually complimented by stale shot, countershot cinematography.

This is then amplified by dialog that is even more stale... Characters internal motivations are glanced over and wrongly molded all the time, apparently the three investigators are pumped to be on a movieset, during the establishing minutes of their character introductions, and then pumped to see a bat-bot, and then extremely intrigued by a whole hooking sequence that just registered to the audience as weird...

... and then there is the meta-level on which the producers and the director decided, lets just make this a movie about a child trio on a movieset, and of course shoot it in Romania where it doesnt cost us as much - so now the kids are pumped to go to Romania over the summer, and of course give them some really child level edgy things to do - like you know, making filmblood - and now the children are pumped to make film blood and --

where is the plot development in all of this? Which plot development. After a full day of being pumped on a filmset about being on a movie, the three investigators wander trough an empty corridor at night - and dont you worry, a plot point will hit!

And the shot framing will be bad. And Justus' delivery will be off, and the supporting actors will be really overacting, like they were cast into a childrens movie (and thats right about their mindset during their text delivery), and the emotional reactions on screen will represent something, or someone, that we as the audience have only seen in a wide shot so far...

Supporting actors are often not very good, filler plotlines like Peters dad not having time for him in place, and then at some point, the least settled and sure of himself in the trio has to drop another plot developing line, that - the trio "must watch the empty corridor where the first plot point hit at random last night". Why?

Because strange music played. And because, apparently, aside from being pumped all the time, to be on a filmset in Romania, this also has to be a detective movie of course! So now this leads into a chase sequence!

The thing is that with its visual presentation, set design and music choices and its emotional story telling - especially in the bigger choreographed scenes, and also during the entire intro (which feels mostly rushed, probably because they booked not enough days to shoot in the US) the movie hits its mark. So someone knew what they were aiming for, and during those bigger planned scenes, the execution is there. Its just, that it falls apart during the remaining 80% of the movie.

They achieved flashes of excellence, but that in itself doesnt make a congruent or fun to watch movie.