The Three Investigators and the Secret of Terror Castle (2009)

• Year: 2009
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1156519/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_three_investigators_and_the_secret_of_terror_castle
• Metacritics:
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language:
• MPA Rating:
• Genre:
• Runtime: min
• Director:
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• Keywords: private detective,

	5.7/10
	46% – Critics
	false% – Audience

The Three Investigators and the Secret of Terror Castle Storyline

Jupiter Jones refuses to attend the surprise party his friends throw against his expressed wished. However he loves investigating an intruder, who gets away but without the clue he came looking for. It leads to another Californian ghost town and its “castle’s” secret, which links to orphan Jupiter’s parents.—KGF Vissers

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The Three Investigators and the Secret of Terror Castle Movie Reviews

Nostalgia isn’t all it’s cracked up to be

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.

Not the book

Having read The Three Investigators in the 70’s & 80’s, I’ve wondered what they would be like in the 21st century. Well, this is it. Sort of. But first you have to get over the fact that other than the words ‘Steven Terrell’ and ‘Castle’, there is nothing in the movie that resembles the book. You also have to get over Bob being a curly haired redhead without glasses.

While this was the first book, it is the second film that was made. The first being The Secret of Skeleton Island. Like the first film, this is a German production, filmed in South Africa. They slipped up at the end of the movie when the Rolls Royce drove on the wrong side of the road… for California, but the correct side for South Africa. As with the first film, most of the plot points were ridiculous. With access to 21st century technology they had GPS, but why didn’t they do an internet search to find out who Steven Terrell was? In the book they did the research and went in knowing everything about him. Why move the castle from the Hollywood Hills, near their home, to the Sierra Nevada Mountains? What’s the deal with the psycho sheriff? Is that view Germans have of Americans? If you have a county sheriff he as to be psycho? The tie in with Jupiter’s parents was also ridiculous. And the most ridiculous of all was having the same villain as the first movie. What is it with Germans need for a French villain? Any movie that makes me use the word ridiculous this much can’t be rated higher than 5 stars, but I’ll give it 6 because The Three Investigators are a part of my life and I’ll watch anything about them (like Harry Potter, if you read the books, you’d understand).

Had I watched this movie under a different title, and didn’t try to associate the movie with the book characters, I would have enjoyed it more. At some point I will watch it again and enjoy it more as I’ve numbed myself to the flaws. The characters are done well, except for Bob (no offense to Cameron Monaghan’s acting. He just isn’t Bob).

the three investigators find a mystery video left by some familiar faces, which leads them investigate the mystery of terror castle

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.