5 Best Things About The Diary Of A Wimpy Kid Trilogy (& 5 Most Underwhelming)

5 Best Things About The Diary Of A Wimpy Kid Trilogy (& 5 Most Underwhelming)

The Diary of A Wimpy Kid film trilogy had plenty of promise as an adaptation. Here are some of the best things about the films, and the worst.

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The Diary of a Wimpy Kid book series by Jeff Kinney was a hit, and it quickly spawned a cinematic adaptation, followed by two sequels. The books were cleverly written and relatable tales of terror and hilarity from the awkward era of middle school. So naturally, the big-screen adaptations of the books had a lot to live up to.

This will look over the first three films and ignore the fourth one (The Long Haul), which was a completely new cast and served as a soft reboot. Here’s hoping Disney gives the franchise some fresh new life.

10 GREAT: There Is Effort

Right off the bat, it’s evident that the Diary of a Wimpy Kid films aren’t just cashing in on the book franchise to make money. There was thought put in, and the films have more structure and artistic appeal than they need. For starters, the films did the right thing by casting actual children in the roles, and ensuring they were charismatic ones. There is also an oddly good score form Theodore Shapiro, who also composed music for several Ben Stiller films and Captain Underpants. Having a talented musician work on the film and not just set a generic soundtrack was a great move to give the film more of an identity. To add to that, the book’s iconic diary pages appear in short animated segments, akin to Lizzie McGuire, further cementing that identity.

9 WEAK: It Can Be Over The Top

The books have a pretty heavy set of deadpan humor to them and some pretty dark jokes. Greg Heffley is a machiavellian character. Reading the books is like hearing a story from the villain’s point of view for many of the pages. Much of the humor is pretty witty and subtle, but at times, the films miss the mark and play big laughs instead, or miss the part of the scene that was the funniest moment. As much as the films try (and mostly succeed) in trying to find their footing, it’s frustrating to see them succumb to the generic coming of age tropes, dated references, and slapstick gags when the books relied more on Greg’s tone-deafness, callousness, and sarcasm, despite ludicrous circumstances.

8 GREAT: Adapting The Books’ Many Stories And Adding New Ones

The Diary of A Wimpy Kid books are chock-full of amusing anecdotes. They are essentially several snippets and scenes loosely built around a larger plot. Having to trim the fat and choose the most important/funny scenes and sacrificing some of the others is a hard task. And that’s not taking into account the sheer quantity of them. But impressively, the films managed to juggle them and weave their importance to the main story together on top of including them.

The new stories added were also fresh for anyone who was already familiar with the books, and most of them felt like natural additions or expansions to the original story.

7 WEAK: Adapting The Books’ Many Stories…And Forgetting Big Ones

The problem with cutting some stories down and replacing them with new ones is that big payoffs of previous stories don’t always get their due, as they were set up in a cut book scene. Likewise, the brand new stories can steal valuable screentime away from worthier pursuits, and if the new add ons aren’t good, it’s quite a damper to see a dip in the story or needless padding.

6 GREAT: The Heffley Parents

Rachel Harris and Steve Zahn were incredibly important to bringing the books to life, and that’s largely due to their acting prowess. Rachel Harris brings a more realistic, but still out of touch version of Greg’s mother, while Steve Zahn functions like a living cartoon character, but with a stern and reasonable side. Amazingly, the pair of parents are reminiscent of another great parental on-screen duo, Hal and Lois from Malcolm in the Middle, which is as high a compliment as can be bestowed.

5 WEAK: Manny Heffley

This is by no means a takedown of the actor who plays Manny, but rather, the films’ insistence on largely excluding or ignoring the youngest Heffley. Manny serves little to no purpose throughout the trilogy, and at best serves as a quick comedic gag, and at worst, serves as a plot point to move a piece of the story. He doesn’t come across as a character, much less one of any importance, and if the family seemingly barely cares about him, why should the audience? It’s understandable to avoid a toddler, as no one wants to turn the movies into a juvenile wasteland, but the humor comes from Greg’s perception of and frustration with his little brother, which is often understandable.

4 GREAT: Greg’s Classmates

Zachary Gordon as Greg was a pretty good casting choice. But his fellow pupils? God tier characters who stole the show off of Greg’s straight man act. While the eccentric characters were fantastic in the book, the movie takes their personalities and escalates them ever further. Patty Farrell is Greg’s arch-enemy and a thug rather than just a teacher’s pet. Fregley gives off “future serial killer” vibes. Rowley is oafish and immature at times but has a heart of gold. But all of them pale in comparison to Chirag Gupta (Karan Brar), who absolutely dominates any scene he’s in. Whether regaling the mythos of the “Cheese Touch,” hitting on girls, or getting the best not-in-the-books scene in the trilogy, he always is a highlight.

3 WEAK: “Dog Days” Doesn’t Have A Solid Arc

The first two Diary of a Wimpy Kid films have pretty clear messages. The first film is about Greg and Rowley’s friendship and sees Greg being less superficial and selfish by the end. The second one is about Greg and Rodrick’s relationship as siblings and has Greg steadily learning to appreciate his bigger brother more. But the third film, Dog Days, while clearing dealing with Greg’s relationship with his father, doesn’t make its point neatly. The film, unfortunately, does the mistakes of combing two books in the series and adding a third original major storyline, and the overstuffed mess is reminiscent of Spider-Man 3.

2 GREAT: Rodrick Heffley

There was a big reason as to why The Long Haul fell hard on its face financially and critically: it replaced the entire cast. But the most sorely missed and most poorly replaced actor was Devon Bostick as Rodrick. Bostick managed to capture Rodrick in a new light, elevating the original version of the character to something new, making Rodrick more sympathetic.

It was more evident that Rodrick was “wimpy” like Greg, and Bostick brought a less thuggish and more chaotic nature to the character, which would make sense, seeing as Rodrick was a wannabe punk/metal rocker. When the trailer for Long Haul dropped and Bostick was nowhere to be found, #notmyrodrick was one of the top trending tags on Twitter, and alas, the franchise died.

1 WEAK: Angie Steadman

The worst case of a new addition to the movie came in the form of Chloë Grace Moretz’s character, Angie. She was an original character made for the first film who served almost like a physical manifestation of Greg’s conscience. The film tried very hard to make her the cool recluse, the Bender-like loner who had it all figured out. But instead, the movie would just come to a complete halt whenever she appeared and told Greg how he should feel, rather than let the movie let Greg figure that out and express it himself. She’s not a character so much as an exposition mouthpiece, which is a large waste of Chloë Grace Moretz’s talents and the film’s screentime. She only ever appeared in the first film, and her absence was noted (though not missed) in the subsequent ones.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/diary-of-a-wimpy-kid-best-underwhelming/

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