Dir: Thor Freudenthal
Starring: Zachary Gordon, Robert Capron, Steve Zahn, Rachael Harris
Running Length: 94 mins
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
When a director is asked to turn a 220 page book based on mainly cartoons the whole way through and hardly any conversations into a hour and a half movie, they must think, that's a tough one. How do I work that out? I think the director of Diary of a Wimpy Kid made a fairly decent effort to pull this one through. Though it lacked detail on the personality of the characters, it stuck to the plot pretty much and made brief references of the cartoon drawings that formed Jeff Kinney's book. Diary of a Wimpy Kid stars Zachary Gordon as Greg Heffley, a 10-12 year old boy (they don't actually say his age) who is starting American middle school. There his bullying brother Rodrick (Devon Bostick) gives him friendly advice not to speak, talk, sit or do anything. This film is in a way disgusting as a scene, not included in the book, where Greg on doing the toilet, Rodrick is hiding in the shower, Greg gets scared, you get my drift. Rachael Harris stars as his glamorous mother unlike the geeky glasses woman in the book who is almost a cameo in the film until the end. Steve Zahn plays the plain dad, whom doesn't say much and Connor and Owen Fielding play Greg's wee brother, Manny another small part. Another horror of his life is his pudgy best friend, Rowley (Robert Capron) who suddenly rises to fame after his success in the school newspaper and a tricycle accident. They decided to introduce a new character, Angie (Chloe Grace Moretz), whom doesn't appear in the book or has any significance in the movie. She is nor friend nor love interest. This film lacks that much humour besides the funny Halloween section. It's a decent in it's way kid's comedy.
3.5/5
do you think it would've worked better if they'd used some of the cartoon drawings?
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