MOVIE NEWS: Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2: Rodrick Rules

Is it me, or does it seem like something new in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series comes out each week now? In the November edition of “What’s Hot” in OWL, we talked about the release of the fifth book in the series (The Ugly Truth). Just last week I was reading about the Diary of a Wimpy Kid Do-it-Yourself Book to be released this coming May. And today Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2: Rodrick Rules is hitting theatres. That’s a lot of Wimpy!

By now most of you are probably familiar with the series storyline: Greg Heffley is a Grade 7 kid just trying to make his way through middle school, hopefully making a few friends and gaining some popularity along the way.

In the new movie, Greg gravitates in and out of the favour of his lazy rocker of an older brother, Rodrick, and comes in contact for the first time with Rodrick’s rules (ie. “Never be good at something you don’t want to do”). But when Greg accidentally gets Rodrick grounded, will the rules be enough to stem the tide of his brother’s wrath? You’ll have to see the movie (or read the book) to find out!

I saw the movie at a preview screening earlier this week, and I’m here to share some thoughts. Here are a few observations I had about the movie:

1) It’s [still] funny. Greg just has a knack for getting himself into hilariously awkward situations — like running in his underwear through his grandfather’s nursing home. And Zachary Gordon, the actor who plays Greg, does a good job throwing himself into those embarrassing scenes to get the laughs. Talk about brave!

2) It’s sweet(er). If I had a problem with the first Wimpy Kid movie, it’s that Greg wasn’t all that easy to cheer for — he seemed more like a self-centered, under-sized bully than a “wimpy” kid. But this time he’s much more relatable, which made it a lot easier to hope for his successes.

3) It’s more brotherly than Rowley-y. As I said above, this one focuses a lot more on Greg’s relationship with his older brother than it does with his best friend, Rowley. Which is too bad — Rowley’s awesome! But, luckily, he (along with his wicked dance moves) still gets a few moments to shine.

Overall, I quite liked Rodrick Rules, and I think fans of the series will like it, too. It sticks pretty close (though not dead on) to the book it’s based on, and fans will appreciate that, too.

What do you say, blog readers: do you plan to see this movie? Did you see the first one? Let me know in the comments below!

Talk to you next week.

Craig, owlblog@owlkids.com

P.S. I promised blog reader Tia two things for this week: 1) a mailbag, and 2) a new poll. Looks like I got one out of two (which isn’t bad!). Check out the new poll in the right-hand bar of the blog, and check back next week for the mailbag. Sorry for the delay!