The Three Robbers facts for kids

The Three Robbers (original German title: Die Drei Rauber) is a fun animated movie from 2007. It's based on a popular children's book from 1961 by Tomi Ungerer. The story was also made into a short cartoon in 1972. In America, this movie was called Trick or Treaters and was changed a bit to be a Halloween story.

What's the Story?

Three brothers are very successful robbers. They are known as highwaymen, which means they rob people on roads. Dominik uses his blunderbuss (a type of old gun) to scare people. Felix uses a pepper-blower to confuse the horses. Their leader, Maximus, uses his big axe to break carriage wheels.

One day, the robbers stop a carriage. Inside, they find a lonely girl named Tiffany. Her parents have passed away, and she is being sent to live with a mean aunt. This aunt runs an orphanage. Tiffany does not want to go there. So, she cleverly tricks the robbers. She tells them she is the daughter of a maharaja (a powerful Indian prince). The robbers believe her and take her to their secret hideout.

Tiffany starts to make the robbers think about their lives. They have collected a lot of treasure, but what will they do with it? She also helps them learn to read and write. They want to send a ransom letter, but they can't read or write! Later, the robbers find a "missing child" poster for Tiffany. They realize she lied to them. Tiffany feels very bad and leaves, heading for the orphanage.

On her way, Tiffany meets two children who have run away from the orphanage. She learns that Auntie makes the children do hard work. They have to harvest sugar beets and get the sugar out. Auntie uses this sugar for her pastry-making machine to make desserts. Tiffany secretly goes into the orphanage. The runaway children are caught, but Tiffany finds Auntie's secret stash of pastries. She shows it to the other orphans.

Auntie is about to punish Tiffany when the robbers suddenly arrive! It turns out the robbers were also orphans who ran away from Auntie's orphanage a long time ago. They make up with Tiffany. Auntie refuses to let Tiffany go. In a fit of anger, Auntie falls into her own pastry-making machine. She turns into a cake, which the orphans then eat!

The robbers decide to use their wealth for good. They buy the orphanage. It becomes a safe place for all children who don't have a home. Over time, this orphanage grows into a big town. The people who live there look up to the robbers as heroes.

Meet the Characters

• Tiffany: A clever and brave young girl.
• Robber #1 Dominik: He uses a blunderbuss to scare people.
• Robber #2 Felix: He uses a pepper-blower to blind the horses.
• Robber #3 Maximus: He is the leader and uses a huge red axe to break carriage wheels.

Who Lent Their Voices?

Here are the actors who voiced the characters in the movie:

Awards and Recognition

This film received many awards and honors! In 2007, it won second prize for Animated Feature Film at the Chicago International Children's Film Festival. In 2008 and 2009, it won first prizes and audience awards at film festivals in many cities. These include Hamburg (Germany), Paris, Bordeaux, Annecy (France), Poznan (Poland), Bilbao (Spain), Brussels, Ghent (Belgium), Bucharest (Romania), and Toronto. It also won the audience award at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in 2008. The DVD for Trick or Treaters was released in the United States on September 6, 2016.