Diary of a Wimpy Kid (Movie)

Title: Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Year: 2010

Director: Thor Freudenthal

Rating by MPAA: PG for some rude humor and language

Synopsis by Twentieth Century Fox: To Greg Heffley, middle school is the dumbest idea ever invented. It's a place rigged with hundreds of social landmines, [...] and a festering piece of cheese with nuclear cooties. To survive the never-ending ordeal and attain the recognition and status he feels he so richly deserves, Greg devises an endless series of can't-miss schemes, all of which, of course, go awry. And he's getting it all down on paper, via a diary […] filled with his opinions, thoughts, tales of family trials and tribulations, and (would-be) schoolyard triumphs. [..] So was born the Wimpy Kid's diary.

Official Site and IMDb Page

Official Trailer

ELL SAID

Rating:

Review:

I first thought this would be an extremely boring story, but I was wrong. The characters and the story are weird, but are also quite catchy. There is no greater good or epicness to it, it really is a diary of a weak kid who is trying to become famous in school. It’s fun to watch, but can at times be quite disgusting, so tread carefully. Overall, a good movie, but there’s not much to say about it.

STEPH SAID

Review:

As a stand alone movie

Rating:

The movie overall was really good; not great, not bad either. It was funny and relatable. Nonetheless, there’s not much I can say without having to mention the book.

Comparing the movie to the book.

(You may want to read my review of the book first.)

Rating:

The movie wasn’t as good as I expected. Since the author of the book, Jeff Kinney, was the movie’s executive producer, I thought the adaptation was going to be amazing. However, it left much to be desired.

The story adaptation was good. Of course, there were some changes as it’s to be expected. Many parts were left out. Nevertheless, the writers made sure to include some of the iconic moments of the book:  the tricycle incident, Halloween night, the play, Manny eating breakfast while in the potty, Rodrick waking Greg up in the middle of the night and many more. I love that we get to see Rodrick’s band play, and just as I expected: they are awful! Also, the magazine incident, in which Rodrick apologizes to women, made the movie. It was way funnier than I expected.

Some characters, on the other hand, were not adapted so perfectly. For example, I don’t remember Patty being such a brat, annoying and a smarty pants maybe, but not a brat. Maybe that’s just me. Rodrick, on the contrary, was pleasant in the movie. To me, Rodrick is the bad guy of the books, the biggest meanie. In the movie, however, he was likeable, funny and very realistic.

My biggest surprise was Greg. I know he is mean sometimes, but the movie took it to the extreme. It presented Greg as if he only cared about being popular. He tried for the wrestling team and the school’s play just for a shot at being popular, when in the book the wrestling was the topic in Phys Ed and his mom made him try out for the play. In the movie, Greg even tried to change Rowley appearance by throwing out Rowley’s “uncool” clothes and painting Rowley’s bike black. Greg, also in the movie, left the kindergarteners, the ones he has to walk home, inside a hole in the ground, under the rain, and ran away. In the book he just showed them some worms.

Additionally, I didn’t like the two out-of-character moments. Rowley’s was when he told Greg they were done. Rowley is too nice, he would’ve just walk away, like he did in the book. Greg’s out-of-character moment came at the end of the movie. Greg decided to use the cheese incident to evaluate the reality of schools and teenagers’ focus, and encourage his peers to look beyond the standards of society. Yet, he was the one that, for a whole year, tried to fit in. And I don’t think it was a change of heart which prompt him to give that mini speech; I just guess the producers wanted a happy ending.

Chloe Grace Moretz is a great actress, but her talent was wasted in this movie. She played Angie Steadman, a character created for the movie. She would just pop in and say a few lines. Her character didn’t had much depth and didn’t do much either. She was just there. From what I’ve gather she doesn’t appear in any of the sequels, so right now I’m wondering about why the character was created in the first place.