Diary of a Wimpy Kid (20th Century Fox)
Life In Middle School
The Wimpy Kid books by Jeff Kinney are enormously popular and it was only a matter of time before a movie was made from this source. A movie version could have been a total misstep but joy of joys it isnt. The film version of Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a funny, fairly realistic look at the world of middle schoolers and should attract kids by the bucketfuls. Plus their parents will enjoy the movie too.
Greg Heffly (Zachary Gordon) is the focus of the story. He is a kid getting ready to enter middle school. His older brother Rodrick (Devon Bostick) taunts him with tales of terror of what is going to occur once he arrives. Still Greg is determined he is going to play the right game and become one of the most popular kids in his class. As expected this isnt the way it works out.
Gregs best friend is Rowley Jefferson (Robert Capron), a kid who is still a kid. He is into playing rather than hanging out. He also doesnt wear the coolest clothes (he shows up the first day of school wearing a serape from his familys Guatemalan vacation). Rowley though is a friend through and through and always has Gregs best interests at heart, something that Greg does not always reciprocate.
The movie follows their adventures throughout the year and teaches a few lessons along the way. The plus factor is that these lessons grow out of the situations in the film rather than having situations forced on the audience just to teach a message. It is also a realistic angle that Greg is not always the one who does the right thing. He messes up from time to time and pays the price.
The young actors all strike the right note as normal kids and that is not something easy to do. Greg and Rowley are like any two kids you could meet anywhere in the USA. The only false note in the film is by Steve Zahn who plays Gregs father. He seems to be in a different movie altogether.
The film is rated PG for kid grossness and some mild violence.
Young kids should thoroughly enjoy this movie as it shows their world in a realistic but comic way. Based on the predicted success of this movie there should be sequels galore for these characters. The problem will be in keeping the young actors looking like the middle schoolers they are in the stories.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a surprisingly enjoyable movie for adults and a sure crowd pleaser for kids. It is heart-warming and humorous, plus realistic and kid raunchy. That seems to be a sure pattern for success.
I scored Diary of a Wimpy Kid a child-like 6 out of 10.
