"DIARY OF A WIMPY KID"
Blu-ray Review
by Kevin Carr
| MOVIE: ***1/2 (out of 5 stars)
BLURAY EXPERIENCE: *** (out of 5 stars) STARRING Zachary Gordon as GREG HEFFLY Robert Capron as ROWLEY JEFFERSON Rachael Harris a SUSAN HEFFLEY Steve Zahn as FRANK HEFFLEY Devon Bostick as RODRICK HEFFLEY Rated PG Studio: 20th Century Fox Directed by: Thor Freudenthal Back to DVD Review Home |  |
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
As Greg Heffly (Zachary Gordon) prepares to go into middle school, he’s facing plenty of challenges, including new friends, a new school and a somewhat childish best friend Rowley Jefferson (Robert Capron), who Greg thinks is bringing him down in popularity points. Told from the perspective Greg’s diary (er... journal), this adaptation of the best selling book series gives a kids-eye-view of the terrifying world of the middle grades.
WHAT I LIKED
Two of my sons are in grade school right now, and the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” books are wildly popular... so much so that the “cheese touch” in schools are sometimes banned alongside Silly Bandz. So even before I knew they were making a film of this, my kids were devouring the books. I never read them myself, but I was aware of the style and presentation simply by seeing the books scattered in various place around the house (because we all know grade school kids rarely put their things away).
Watching a film like “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” increases in quality if you’re watching with kids who are either fans of the books or are entering middle school age themselves. Not only did this movie bring back memories (both good and bad) about my own school experiences, I was able to see through my kids’ eyes what they connected to.
The story is pretty simple in terms of the popularity struggle. We’ve seen that before in pieces like “Heathers,” “Mean Girls” and even “Square Pegs” (the last which has more in common with “Diary” than one might think). But the presentation is slightly different. It’s told from a boy’s point-of-view, which is less common. Plus, the film exists in a hyper-reality because it’s coming from Greg’s own narrative. We see everything from Greg’s perspective, and even if it’s something that is unpleasant, there’s a humor to it.
While Greg does not always make the best decisions, there’s a truth behind them when you take into account the mentality of the narrator. No middle school kid – and arguably no person at all – is going to make the most noble decisions all the time, and that adds some reality here.
Of course, the charmer in this film is the character of Rowley, who is on his way to become a bizarre man-child in later years. He comes off as a sidekick, but he does stand up for himself and is given a chance to succeed when appropriate. Ultimately, it is his interaction with Greg that makes the film work. They balance each other, making the movie a lot of fun.
Finally, another great aspect to this movie is the slate of bizarre side character, which sadly resemble quite a few kids I knew in my tween years.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
One angle on “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” that hurts it is that it threatens to fall off the Chloe Moretz bandwagon. This fine actor is getting overexposed right now, the likes of which I haven’t seen since Cameron Bright showed up in almost every movie with an early teen about five or seven years ago. Her character is pretty pointless to the film and seems to be thrown in there to balance out all the tween boy angst.
It’s not a huge hit of a movie, but “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” is a neat little piece of self-contained fun.
BLU-RAY FEATURES
Like many video releases aimed at the family market, the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” Blu-ray comes with three discs: the Blu-ray, the DVD and a disc for Digital Copy. The features are bundled on the Blu-ray as “Greg’s Deleted Diary Pages.” These aren’t deleted scenes really, but rather a slate of featurettes that add character to the film.
These “Deleted Diary Pages” include several vignette with Fregly and his grossest gross-out moments, the trials of Chirag and how hard it is to be a diminutive minority in middle school, a look at the Cheese Touch and a handful of “Zoo-Wee Mama” cartoons, which are actually pretty entertaining.
One final feature to the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” Blu-ray is the box sleeve includes a board-book style “Diary of an Awesome, Friendly Kid,” which is a look at middle school from Rowley’s rose-colored glasses knock-off journal.
WHO’S GOING TO LIKE THIS MOVIE
Wimpy kids, their parents and anyone who remembers middle school a little too vividly.
