The Mysterious Benedict Society 3D

The Mysterious Benedict Society 3D is an upcoming 2011 3D Black Comedy Adventure film directed by Michael Ritchie. It is based on the three novels The Mysterious Benedict Society, The Perilous Journey and the Prisoner's Dilemma by Trenton Lee Stewart. The film stars William A. Johnson, Alexander Pownall, Dakota Fanning, Maria Lark, Richard Gere, David Tennant, Robert De Niro, Bruce Davidson, Sean Penn, Joan Cusack, Matthew Waters, Madeline Carroll, Melissa Greenspan and Forrest Landis with narration by Richard Gere as the character Nicholas Benedict. The Mysterious Benedict Society tells the story of an evil man attempting to take his down vastly more intelligent brother through a collection of the local area's worst maniacs. The brother then assembles his team of the world's four smartest children and following the completion of a test chronicles and their defeats over his evil twin.

Plot
After seeing a newspaper article addressed to children with special gifts, eleven-year old Reynie Muldoon goes to a center where he and many other children take a written test with many strange questions relating to logic, bravery, etc. He is the only one in the room to pass this exam, and, after all the other children leave, he is invited to another center for more tests. He goes there the next day, and meets Rhonda, a distressed girl who lost her only pencil for the test. Reynie breaks his pencil in half and gives half to Rhonda to use, and Rhonda offers him the answers to the test they're about to take. Reynie refuses this, and walks into the testing area. There, he and many other children sit in separated desks, each getting a test. All of the test questions are impossibly hard. Reynie notices that some of the other children even start to cry, but Reynie realizes that each of the test's questions have their answers hidden in other questions of the test. Reynie realizes it is all just a big puzzle.

Because of the logic and skill he showed, Reynie together with three other children named George "Sticky" Washington, a boy with photographic memory, Kate Wetherall, a resourceful and agile girl, and Constance Contraire, a stubborn little girl who likes to recite couplets, is later (after yet more tests, all of whose solutions are hidden in their instructions) invited to the home of Mr. Benedict a kind, clever, elderly man suffering from narcolepsy, who presents them all with a task to do. He tells them that by using subliminal messaging hidden in television, radio, cell phone signals, and almost any other signal that travels through the air, a man acting as a "Sender" can make people believe things causing them to imagine that there is an "Emergency" where there isn't one. One example of a hidden message is "The missing aren't missing, they've only departed", which causes people to ignore the disappearances of others. Mr. Benedict tells them that the one sending these messages is a Mr. Curtain, the principal of L.I.V.E. (The Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened), a school on an island off the coast of their city of Stonetown. Mr. Benedict asks the children to act as his spies at the Institute, gain "special privileges", given only to high ranking students, and, if possible, destroy the machine sending the messages.

Inside the Institute the children see strange people - the Helpers, who refuse to answer questions about themselves and always seem sad, and Mr. Curtain himself, who turns out to be Mr. Benedict's long-lost twin brother. The lessons are very repetitive, and there are in fact rules although the Executives who run the school say that there aren't any. Communicating with Mr. Benedict via Morse Code with a flashlight, the children uncover the hideous plan of Mr. Curtain, to control the people of the world and to imprison his enemies.

The children manage to stall Mr. Curtain's plan and make him fall asleep (Mr. Curtain also suffers from narcolepsy), allowing Mr. Benedict to shut down the Whisperer, Mr. Curtain's machine which allows him to transmit the hidden messages. Though Mr. Curtain escapes, the children share a party together with Constance, who is celebrating her third birthday (the others did not previously know that she was so young), although her birthday is actually a month away.

The story then begins at Kate Wetherall's farm/house, where all the children plan to stay for a few days before setting off to Stonetown to visit Mr. Benedict, who is planning to send them on an international treasure hunt to test their skills. When they arrive at Mr. Benedict's house, they receive bad news from Rhonda that Mr. Benedict and Number Two have been kidnapped by Ledroptha Curtain, the villain of the previous book and twin brother of Mr. Benedict. In his ransom letter, Mr. Curtain describes a certain "rare plant" and says he needs to know the identity of a person "extremely close" to Mr. Benedict, because that person has information about this mysterious plant. If this information is not provided to him, Mr. Benedict and Number Two will be in "grave danger". Constance reveals that Mr. Benedict gave her a letter before he was kidnapped, and told her to open it when the other children arrived. The envelope contains a message of greeting from Mr. Benedict, and a nonsensical riddle. In solving the riddle, they discover that the words are in alphabetical order. This leads them to a dictionary, and then a journal - in which is another nonsensical riddle. The children discern it to mean TAKE THE SHORTCUT. The children sneak off on the M/V SHORTCUT, the “fastest ship in the world” and find more information that takes them to a castle in Portugal. From there, hidden evidence directs them to a library in Thernbaakagen. There they learn that the “mysterious plant” is called duskwort and is extremely rare - possibly extinct. It has the power, when burned in fire, to put entire villages to sleep for hours on end. It also is a possible antidote to Mr. Benedict’s narcolepsy (Mr.Benedict found this out because of his parents and his parent's great friend). Researching the duskwort, they find that no one knows what it looks like. They travel to a hotel, but are found by two of Mr. Curtain’s henchmen, called the "TEN MEN". However, they are rescued by Milligan, who accompanies them to find more of the mountain on theevidence. They finally find the location of the duskwort - an abandoned island. On the island they find a delirious Number Two, who tells them where Mr. Benedict is: the top island. They are ambushed by a group of "TEN MEN". Milligan comes to the rescue, and takes on the Ten Men. The children travel to the top of the mountain, while Milligan is backed off a fifty-foot cliff and falls into mud. They discover Mr. Benedict chained to the wall in a cave. He begs them to destroy the duskwort. Upon the children saying they don’t know what it looks like, he jumps up and reveals himself to be Mr. Curtain, and locks the children to the wall with the real Mr. Benedict. Mr. Curtain leaves after Mr. Benedict tells him where the duskwort is. Mr. Benedict cleverly tricks S.Q. Pedalian into unlocking their handcuffs, and they get away. Mr. Benedict falls asleep from narcolepsy, and the children are forced to carry him down the mountain. They find Milligan (extremely injured) and Mr. Benedict comes back from his deep snooze too. They race to the forest with Ten Men are surrounding them everywhere, in addition to Mr. Curtain’s amphibious vehicle being hot on their trail. Just when all seems lost, the mighty figure of the SHORTCUT races into the bay at top speed. It grounds on the shore, allowing the children to climb on board. "TEN MEN" manage to board the ship, as well, and attach an explosive to the door of the security hold where the children, Milligan, Mr. Benedict, and all the other people in the ship are hiding. Kate jumps up and runs to the door, detaching the explosive and running up onto the deck. As it is about to explode, she tosses the explosive over the railing, away from the boat, and also away from the escaping villains (Mr. Curtain blows her a kiss for this. Kate makes sure he sees her wipe it off). It is implied that the boat docks safely and the children are reunited with their families.

In the third and final part of the Mysterious Benedict Society film, Reynie, Sticky, Kate, Constance, and various loved ones find themselves holed up in Mr. Benedict's house, which is teeming with security. The evil Mr. Curtain is at large and hunting for the Whisperer -- now in Mr. Benedict's possession -- so he can try again to control minds from afar. When a shady businessman shows up with false records that say he's Constance's father, it compels Mr. Benedict to use the Whisperer to uncover her short past. Distraught and confused after all is revealed, Constance runs away, with the whole household after her -- just the distraction Mr. Curtain and his men need to steal the Whisperer and set his evil plans in motion. Of course, the rest of the Mysterious Benedict Society soon find themselves on his trail.

Cast

 * William A. Johnson as Reynard "Reynie" Muldoon
 * Alexander Pownall as George "Sticky" Washington
 * Dakota Fanning as Kate "The Great Kate" Wetherall
 * Maria Lark as Constance Contraire
 * Richard Gere as Nicholas Benedict/Mr. Benedict
 * David Tennant as LeDropTha Curtain/Mr. Curtain
 * Bruce Davidson as Milligan
 * Joan Cusack as Number 2
 * Matthew Waters as Jackson
 * Madeline Carroll as Jillson
 * Melissa Greenspan as Martina Crowe
 * Forrest Landis as S.Q Pedalian
 * James Marsters as Mc Craken
 * Hugh Laurie as Crawlings
 * Tommy Lee Jones as Garrotte
 * Sean Penn as Milligan Wetherall
 * Aleisha Allen as Rhonda Kazembe
 * Brian Cox as Captain Noland
 * Marion Cotillard as Mrs. Plugg
 * Martin Henderson as Mr. Rutger
 * Alan Cumming as Cannonball
 * Mila Kunis as Sophie
 * Robert De Niro as Mr. Pressius