Diary of a Wimpy Kid

This is the second movie I'm reviewing this week based on a series of illustrated books. It carries a great tag-line : "I'll be famous one day but for now I'm stuck in middle school with a bunch of morons". and follows the exploits of Greg Heffley (Zachary Gordon) as he tries to work out how to be popular in Middle School. As such, its a very episodic structure with the main through plot being Greg's ongoing friendship with the decidedly uncool and rather rotund Rowley.

Most of the episodes and overall characters arcs are rather predictable. You know how its all going to end and the humour, understandably skews towards its young target audience (mouldy cheese and bogeys). However, it refreshingly underplays the standard be yourself message rather than trying to overdo the emotional punch, instead trying to focus on the humour and that is its main success. It has a sharp, wise-cracking script and makes good use of the cartoons from the source material (especially in a recurring popularity league table which Greg is constantly falling down). Gordon does a good job of making Greg likeable even when he's doing fairly unlikeable things and he's supported well by the rest of the cast, including Kick Ass' Chloe Moretz. As a result, the jokes are more hit than miss and there's enough here to amuse adult as well as younger viewers.

It comes across as the mutuant offspring of The Wonder Years and Mean Girls, but that's, at the end of the day, no bad thing and has done well enough that a sequel is already being filmed.

Overall - 6.5/10 Its sharp and funny with likeable leads.