It’s tough being a kid. Luckily, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” is enjoyably easy on the eyes – for either children or their parents.
By Roxana Hadadi
Based on the first installment of the series of books by author Jeff Kinney, the film focuses on main character Greg Heffley (Zachary Gordon), your average suburban kid who aspires of growing up to be rich and famous. The coming-of-age story could be somewhat trite, but thanks to director Thor Freudenthal’s light touch and amusing animations based on the illustrations in Kinney’s books, the film becomes analogous for something larger than just grades six through eight, more of a metaphor for living life to the fullest and not stressing over the small stuff.
OK, maybe that’s reading too much into it. But for a film that is catered mainly to an age group that can’t attend R-rated movies, drive or vote, it’s pretty tolerable for anyone who is old enough to do those things, too.
The film begins by introducing viewers to Greg, who is nervous about his transition into middle school but hopes to be successful and adored later in his life; as a result, he keeps a journal (not a diary, he insists) to collect all his memories and experiences, so he won’t have to deal with pesky reporters as an adult. Before he can get there, Greg has to make it through the sixth grade – but he’s not too worried. His strategy is to befriend the right people, rise to the upper level of the school’s popularity ranks (either No. 19 or 20 out of 200 kids, he expects) and get a superlative in the yearbook, all indicators of being a unanimously liked cool kid.
But not everyone thinks Greg’s plan is full-proof. His older brother Rodrick (Devon Bostick), who enjoys torturing him as all older brothers do, warns that he’ll “be dead or home-schooled by the end of the year,” and his best friend Rowley (Robert Capron), who enjoys his childish wardrobe and pink bike, doesn’t understand the importance of changing oneself to become popular. He tags along with whatever Greg suggests, such as wearing his backpack on one arm and throwing out his T-shirts with kittens on them, but fails to grasp why any of these changes are indicative of one’s social status.
Yet it’s social status that starts taking over Greg’s life: He’s shocked by kids who have sprouted up over the summer (“Was there a nuclear accident?” he wonders); steers clear of fraternizing with rebellious seventh-grader Angie (Chloë Grace Moretz), who has a dyed streak in her hair, reads “Howl” by Allen Ginsberg under the school bleachers and calls middle-school “a glorified holding pen” and “an intellectual wasteland”; and makes sure to avoid touching a mysterious, rotting piece of cheese on the school’s blacktop. If he even brushes it, he would be cursed with the “cheese touch,” a move that would make him a social outcast. Kind of like cooties, to the power of infinity.
So to cement his coolness, Greg tries to find an after-school activity that will guarantee him a superlative. Though Angie invites him to join the school paper, he refuses, instead thinking wrestling will get him to the top of the food chain. But he immediately gets his butt handed to him both by the school’s weirdest kid and a girl who beat him up twice in elementary school – strike one.
But while Greg’s popularity attempts keep getting shot down, he never seems to understand that there’s something wrong with his desperate climb toward the top. And even when he blames Rowley for a dangerous mistake he makes as a member of the school’s safety patrol, possibly permanently severing their friendship, he refuses to admit any wrongdoing – strike two.
Overall, though, the film succeeds both because of how Greg redeems himself at the film’s end (a conclusion that’s tweaked a bit from Kinney’s book, but works better for the big screen) and Freudenthal’s use of Kinney’s illustrations. Though largely minimalistic, they pop up every now and then to add an amusing sense of whimsy, such as when stick-figure Greg zooms up and down the school’s popularity list. Similarly enjoyable are the glimpses into Greg’s fantastical expectations: He imagines himself as a danger-seeking cop and a cape-wearing wrestling star, but they contrast greatly to his reality of leading kindergarteners home from school and donning a one-piece spandex outfit. It’s those drastic differences that will certainly draw laughs.
And the PG rating, though warranted since there is some rude language and violence, still means the flick is appropriate for basically anyone in the latter years of elementary school and older. Plus, who can’t identify with and laugh at the melodramatic ills of middle school? If you can approach your past with a sense of humor, then “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” will keep you cracking up the whole way through.
Roxanne last reviewed “She’s Out of My League“.
Thinking about a different movie? Movies out this week include “Our Family Wedding” and “Remember Me”
