Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Awesome Family Fun!!!
This movie was actually a lot better than I expected, and had some hilarious moments. I can relate to some of the things that happened to Greg. I have not read the book, so I couldn't compare it. 12 year old Greg Heffley is nervous about starting middle school. Him and his dorky best friend, Rowley Jefferson try to fit in and become popular, but that's easier said than done. Throughout the school year, Greg and Rowley come up with weird ways to become popular like being a Safety Patrol officer, wrestling, and performing in epic school plays. In order to truly appreciate this film, you either need to be a parent, or think from the perspective of a kid. I highly recommend DIARY OF A WIMPY KID!!!

Better than I expected
My daughter loves this book series, so my wife decided to get this DVD, and we watched it as a family. I wouldn't normally review a kid's movie, but I want to let dads know that this movie is actually watchable, and certainly better than I expected. The plot hangs together, the kids are good actors, and there are some genuinely funny moments which I can relate to from my own childhood. The only reason I'm deducting a star is that, as others have noted, the portrayal of the parents as somewhat clueless is both unnecessary and counterproductive.

Made My Kids Laugh Without Too Many Objectionable Moments
Rating this movie is a difficult thing because I have to keep in mind the target audience and not rate it in terms of my own standards for judging films.

In essence, as you might have suspected, the book is better than the movie (even though I don't necessarily like everything about the books, either). In fact, movies almost always suffer in comparison to the books on which they're based. So judged as a kids' movie, I give "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" 3 stars. It wasn't great, but it did have moments that made my 10 and 11 year old sons laugh. There was some genuine humor that even an adult could enjoy with his children. My sons also enjoyed looking at the ways the movie was different than the book.

As a parent who's careful about what my kids watch, I was pleasantly surprised that there were relatively few objectionable things. Yes, I knew that a certain amount of grossness would accompany the movie (and which I knew would make my boys laugh), but it was...

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