Friday, March 19, 2010
PHOTOS |
COMING SOON|
EXAMINER.COM FILM ARTICLES
||HOME
Friday, March 19, 2010
MOVIE REVIEW
Diary Of A Wimpy Kid
Diagramming Your (Cheesy)
Self-Esteem
Robert Capron (left), Zachary Gordon and Chloe Grace Moretz in "Diary Of A Wimpy
Kid", which opened today.
Fox
By
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
FOLLOW
Friday, March 19, 2010
Thor Freudenthal brings Jeff Kinney's illustrated book Diary Of A Wimpy Kid
to the big screen with mostly mixed results. On the one hand, the film has
occasional cutesy appeal for kids. On the other, "Wimpy Kid" will be a
major punk-out for many adults.
Zachary Gordon plays Greg Heffley, just starting at Westmore Middle School, and
Robert Capron is Rowley Jefferson, also trying to find his bearings at Westmore. The two are peas in a pod, but inevitably their brotherhood will
face tests from some of the school's disagreeable kids.
Although
there's some scatological material, the film mostly avoids it to maintain a
shaky PG rating. The film is also a little longer than it needs to be, if
only to draw out the larger-than-life pains of being occasionally humiliated
before a character's less-than-supportive classmates.
Four screenwriters combine to write this film, which is tailor-made for an ABC
television "After School Special". Much of the film is populated with the
types of kids that you probably endured or exalted when you were in middle school (or
law school, for that matter.) Parts of "Wimpy Kid" are funny, but even if
you haven't read Mr. Kinney's book, the film is a mostly predictable escalation
of the anxieties of trying to find one's voice amidst a sea of sharks, barracudas and
goldfish.
Overall, many of the actors readily preen and smile for the camera but add little to the
overall scheme of Mr. Freudenthal's film. The kids they play aren't all brats
or menaces, but they
don't entirely lack an ability to annoy, either.
The adults in the room are played by Steve Zahn and Rachael Harris, as Greg's
parents. They do what they have to, but they don't have to do much.
The kids are definitely driving this bus.
With: Chloë Grace Moretz, Devon Bostick, Grayson Russell, Laine MacNeil, Karan
Brar, Alex Ferris, Andrew McNee, Belita Moreno, Rob LaBelle.
"Diary Of A Wimpy Kid" is rated PG for some rude humor and language.
The film's duration is one hour and 58 minutes.
FOLLOW
Read more movie reviews and stories from Omar
here.
Read Omar's "Far-Flung Correspondent" reports for America's pre-eminent Film
Critic Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times -
here
SUBSCRIBE TO THE POPCORN REEL MOVIE
REVIEWS RSS FEED
PHOTOS |
COMING SOON|
EXAMINER.COM FILM ARTICLES
||HOME