Movie Review: “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”
Franck Tabouring
Seen on: March 20, 2010
The players: Director: Thor Freudenthal, Writers: Jackie Filgo, Jeff Filgo, Gabe Sachs, Cast: Zachary Gordon, Robert Capron, Rachael Harris, Steve Zahn, Devon Bostick
Facts of interest: Based on the book by Jeff Kinney.
The plot: The film follows what happens to a kid when he gets into middle school.
Our thoughts: Thor Freudenthal’s “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” works better than this previous family adventure “Hotel for Dogs,” and even though the big-screen adaptation of Jeff Kinney’s popular book is far from perfect, it’s definitely the kind of film you can take your kids to.
So, why then could I not rate this one higher than I did? Maybe I’m getting older too fast. Then again, there are tons of kid flicks out there I absolutely enjoy. To be honest, it’s the film’s mediocre pace that gave me a hard time. It’s not that the story is a total waste, but I feel it could’ve been treated it in a more compelling way.
Zachary Gordon plays lead character Greg Heffley, a youngster who’s dreading the first day of middle school. His brother promises it will be hell for Greg, and as it turns out, it starts out as a pretty bad experience. All Greg wants is to be somebody everyone respects, but with his geeky entourage, that’s hard to accomplish.
Okay, Greg doesn’t really have an entourage. His only friend is Rowley (Robert Capron), and Rowley isn’t exactly popular either. Greg quickly realizes he will never be the school’s most popular kid if he keeps hanging with Rowley, and as a result, he begins to neglect their friendship in order to boost his own reputation.
Needless to say, Greg’s plans don’t work out the way he expected, and instead of helping him become the most popular kid, all his selfish actions end up doing is alienating him more from the others. That’s when he embarks on a journey to realize that you don’t need to act like a jerk to be respected by others.
That’s just one of the messages “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” tries to convey to its audience, and to tell you the truth, it does this pretty well. The film shows viewers that life is all about being yourself without trying to hurt others, and the story of Greg’s misadventures in middle school help get this message across easily enough.
Unfortunately, the film’s plot is mostly dry, and the humor isn’t exactly refreshing either. “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” is a slow-moving family film in my book, and in terms of innovation, it doesn’t score points either. I can easily see why families will embrace this flick, but as far as I’m concerned, I just expected more from this thing.
Greg is hard to like as a character in the film, and as the story develops and Rowley becomes more and more popular, we tend to root for him as well. It’s too bad Greg acts as mean as he does so often in this film, because the lesson he learns eventually start developing way late – another reason why the film drags in the middle.
Performances are okay, but again, I prefer Capron to Gordon’s job. Chloe Moretz is the best one among the kids for sure (she plays s school paper reporter), but she’s barely onscreen, which is a shame. Appearances by Steve Zahn and Rachael Harris go mostly unnoticed.
Freaky quote: "Middle school is the dumbest idea ever invented." - Zachary Gordon
The final word: “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” is a harmless film filled with the usual lessons about treating other with respect and not having to change oneself for the sake of fame or whatever, and even though the film does a decent job at educating its young viewers, it lacks the energy that could’ve made it a memorable adventure.
Article by Franck Tabouring
Reader Comments (2)
Franck Tabouring is so off in his review, in my opinion, that I wonder why he bothered to write the so-called review at all. My family and a group of friends went to see the movie the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" this weekend and all of us unanimously loved the movie. Kids and Adults.
The movie is not slow at all, as Mr. Taboruing states, but well paced and keeps your attention with so many funny and relatable scenes that at times it is hard to keep up with all the comic moments. The character of Greg Heffley (played by Zachary Gordon ) is the best in the film because he is the film. Without him, the other characters have no place, so Mr. Tabouring misses the point on this as well, maybe he is right, he is too old to be reviewing movies. As far as we were concerned, the character of Greg was so convincing that at times we hated him and at times we rooted for him and ultimately loved him. The movie was like an emotional rollercoaster ride.
The actor who played Greg (Zachary Gordon) did such a great job, he brought Greg Heffley to life and made him believable. So Mr. Tabouring got caught up in the believability of the character,(I guess which is a complement) so therefore, he didn't like him, as he states in his review, so he didn't make any decsent comment about the actor who made him believable either. However, this happened because Gordon came across so convincing as Greg, Mr. Tabouring should have known the difference between the quality of the actors performance and the dialogue of the character himself. Sadly enough, Mr. Tabouring did not make that connection on this account either.
Anyone wanting a fun, energetic, relatable experience with "dead on" associations from middle school, this is a must see movie. We all loved it and had a great time. Do not listen to this "half-assed" review as the plot is fun and moving, the comedy is fresh, alive, and hilarious. No one has made a good middle school movie until now. It is a refreshing, wholesome change from sitting through all these computer generated graphics fake films in 3D. You and your kids will walk away feeling good about this film, and that doesn't happen very often these days....
Robert, I don't know what hole you crawled out of, but I guess you don't understand the point of reviewing movies. Let me enlighten you: to review a film is to share any personal feelings one has about this. No sir, this is not about being objective. I guess you still have to realize that. In that sense, I don't understand your simplistic point of saying I may be too old to be reviewing movies. It's a tad ignorant. Are you involved with the production team of this film, by any chance? Even if not, I think you didn't even read what I wrote about being too old. And yet you took all this time to write your wonderful essay. Anyway, in the future, please remember people look at things differently than others, and in the same sense, people always have different opinions on things. If you loved the film, I am unbelievably happy for you. I am sure there is a film out there you hated and I loved. Now, does that make you incompetent in sharing your opinion about it? Does it make you 'half-assed'? Anyway, food for thought, buddy.