Most people, after seeing a movie based on a book they‘ve read, usually say “I liked the book better.” I, on the other hand, as a movie guy, usually enjoy the movies more than the books.
But not this time.
“Diary of a Wimpy Kid” is based on the very popular book series by Jeff Kinney. I’ve read all 5 of the books and liked them all. They follow the life of Greg Heffley, who in the first book, as in the movie, is just starting middle school.
Greg has a mom and dad and an older brother, who picks on him a lot, and a baby brother as well. He also has a best friend named Rowley, who embarrasses him sometimes but they’re still great pals.
At least in the books. One of the main problems with this movie (and there are plenty) is the relationship between Greg and Rowley. For the first half of the film, Greg is mean to Rowley, trying to change him and make him be cool. And then they stop being friends and the second half is about Greg’s life without his best friend.
This isn’t fun or funny. In fact this entire movie isn’t fun or enjoyable to watch. There’s no clever dialogue. None of the creativity of the books. The entire tone of the film is MEAN – classmates being mean to each other, older kids being mean to the middle school kids. There’s even a scene in which Greg is unbelievably mean to a group of kindergarten students.
If the books had this tone no one would have read any of them.
There are no laughs in “Wimpy Kid“. Everyone in the packed theater I was at when I saw it back in March sat through the movie in stunned silence except for a few gross scenes.
Also, the acting is not good. At times “Wimpy Kid” reminded me of the worst family movie of 2009 – “Shorts”. That’s not a place I ever wanted to go again.
All of this is very surprising because Kinney was both a writer and executive producer of the film. He’s got no one to blame but himself for they way this movie turned-out.
The best thing about “Wimpy Kid” is the occasional use of the simple, pencil-drawn animation of the actual cartoons taken from the book. They should have done the entire movie this way.
“Diary of a Wimpy Kid” is rated PG for a few disgusting scenes. It’s appropriate for kids 7 and up, and fans of the books are going to want to see it. But I beg you to save your money for the next book instead.
On “The Official Kid Critic Report Card”, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” gets a D.
And as a tribute to clearly one of the worst family films of 2010, all I can say is: “Zoo-Wee-Mama”.