Hello and welcome,
Just to be clear, I’m not a fan of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid franchise although it was very popular during my time in late Elementary and Middle school so it was unavoidable. I do have a basic understanding of the franchise (and I mean very basic) because I did watch the 1st movie (Live action) somewhere between my last year of middle school and 1st year of high school but all I really remember of it was thinking that was just ok. Given the fact that it has been almost a decade ago and heaven knows what I might think of now! I still haven't read any of the books. With that out of the way, let’s begin.
Background
This movie has a very complicated development (almost like my 6th-grade year) but I will do my best. In 2012 Jeff Kinney, the author of the books, said an animated film based on Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever was a good possibility. That movie soon became a half-hour TV special. In 2018 it became an animated series and that may have had something to do with the last Live-action film being a box office bomb. When Disney bought Fox 2019 the series was going to be a Disney+ original and then it finally became a movie again. Oh, by the way, it is now based on the 1st book. The rest, as they say, is history (did you get all that? there is going to be a test).
Plot
Greg Heffley (Brady Noon) is about to enter middle school with his best friend Rowley Jefferson (Ethan William Childress) and he gets advice from his older brother on how to "survive" middle school and scares Greg in the process. The first day of school arrives and both Greg and Rowley are shunned by the majority of the students and that's about it for the plot if you can call it a plot. The movie basically follows Greg and Rowley through the 1st quarter I guess?
Opinion
Let’s get this out of the way. First off, Jeff Kinney’s art style doesn't translate well in CGI as all the characters look weird and some of them end up looking like filmmakers decision to go Dumpster diving at The Muppets Studio
Let’s move on to the story, or more accurately, stories. I do like episodic nature and it does kind of work as a slice of life story. Now for the characters, Greg Heffley is supposed to be like Charlie Brown where nothing ever goes right for him. Charlie Brown however is very likable but now just Imagine if Charlie Brown had the personality of Lucy and that is what Greg is, a Jerk, and I really don't know why Rowley is friends with him. I have another comparison to Peanuts which is one of the many things that works for Peanuts is that all the characters talk like little adults and the actual adults, who you never see, talk with "Wah Wa Wa Wah Wa Wa." but here we have the opposite which does not work and what you now have is a lot of useless adults.
Overall, Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a mean-spirited movie. I will be lying if I said I had a good time. I debated on my rating but it just barely escaped the Golden Garbage Can Award so that means that I give it 1 out 5 stars. If you like it great, but as for me I will rather go through middle school again,
Goodnight and Bee Happy™
Mr. Bee
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