Cast: Zachary Gordon,Robert Capron, Rachael Harris, Steve Zahn; Director: Thor Freudenthal; Producers: Nina Jacobson, Bradford Simpsopl Screenwriters: Jackie Filgo, Jeff Filgo, Gabe Sachs, Jeff Judah, Jeff Kinney; Music: Theodore Shapiro; Editor: Wendy Greene Bricmont; Genre: Comedy/ Family; Cinematography: Jack N. Green; Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation; Location: Canada: Running Time: 94 min.;Technical Assessment: 4
Moral Assessment: 4
CINEMA Rating: For viewers age 13 and below with parental guidance
The wimpy kid in The Diary of a Wimpy Kid is wise-cracking Greg Heffley (Zachary Gordon) who actually thinks his diary is not a diary but a “journal”. Entering his first year of middle school, Greg grapples with the awkward situation of a pre-teen, and thus his “journal” begins, chronicling everything going on in his head, at home and in school—the three locations he finds himself in day in and day out. Home is well-meaning if sometimes distracted parents (Rachael Harris and Steve Zahn), mean older brother Rodrick (Devon Bostick), and the youngest in the family, a nonverbal toddler. School is mostly teens who think Greg is a nerd and a geek; the 12-year old school paper editor Angie (Chloe Moretz); and his almost-buddies, tubby boy Rowley Jefferson (Robert Capron) and Chirag Gupta (Karan Brar), the only boy shorter than Greg. Greg wants to be the most popular kid in school at all cost but his popularity is all in his mind. He thinks he is smart (which he is) and cannot, therefore, accept when someone inferior wins the popularity race hands down.
The Diary of a Wimpy Kid presents a realistic and credible picture of Junior High School in America, with a sensitive story spiced up with humor. There’s a device in the movie that demonstrates the power of the herd-mentality in middle school—the slice of mold-coated Swiss cheese that’s been on the school ground for ages because nobody dares touch it. Anyone seen touching it instantly becomes a pariah, an “untouchable” literally, whom the whole student population avoids because…. Because! Based on the books of cartoonist Jeff Kinney, the movie features Kinney’s drawings and hand-letterings on the wimpy kid’s diary’s pages. The movie is fast-paced and nimble, the action engaging, and the dialogue bright. But most of all, the child actors are real performers—whether in lead or support roles, they are the ones who carry the movie since the adult roles are minimal.
While The Diary of a Wimpy Kid may be a family movie, it’s not for young children; in fact, even older children and pre-teens, would need parental guidance in order to see the movie in the proper perspective. Though the lead characters are pre-teens, the situations presented are mostly for teens. The content is also suited to teens, particularly scenes that imply drug use by older teen, show bullying by older teens, scare young characters by referring to devil worshippers, etc. There’s a good spiel by Greg’s mother where she clearly and unequivocally makes her point to her children that adult/girlie magazines are a no-no in the Heffley household because they degrade women. The better thing here is, she is obeyed by her children. The one most important thing the wimpy kid learns is the supremacy of truth in human relationships. In that sense, the movie subtly speaks of growth and maturing of the lead character—he begins by desiring popularity without knowing how to achieve it, and ends up taking responsibility for his mistakes, the broken friendship, the undeserved award.
