DVD
REVIEW: DIARY OF THE WIMPY KID
07/31/10
OVERVIEW:
Based on the best-selling illustrated novel by Jeff Kinney, the family comedy Diary of a Wimpy Kid arrives on Blu-ray Disc/DVD Combo Pack and DVD August 3 from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. The film chronicles the adventures of wisecracking pre-teen Greg Heffley, who must somehow survive the scariest time of anyone’s life… middle school. Convinced it’s the “dumbest idea ever invented,” Heffley considers junior high school a place rigged with hundreds of social landmines, not the least of which are wedgies, swirlies, bullies, lunchtime banishment of the cafeteria floor and a festering piece of cheese with nuclear cooties that he must overcome to become popular. His diary — or “journal” — chronicles his thoughts, tales of family trials and tribulations, and (would be) schoolyard triumphs.
SYNOPSIS: Meet the
kid who made "wimpy" cool, in a family comedy motion
picture based on the best-selling illustrated novel Diary of a
Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney, the first in a series that has thus
far sold 28 million books. DIARY OF A WIMPY KID chronicles the
adventures of wisecracking pre-teen Greg Heffley, who must
somehow survive the scariest time of anyone's life....middle
school.
REVIEW: When the
opportunity to do this review came around, I was thrilled
because my boys (have I told you guys that I have 3 boys?) are
fans of the book series by Jeff Kinney. If you’ve ever seen
the books, then you know that the characters are basically stick
figures and the chance to see them “fleshed” out was a great
motivator. Ralphie, my youngest, was so excited to find his
friend, Louie Armstrong at the screening and I was able to get
their opinion (You gotta love his name especially since he is so
the opposite of the Louie Armstrong of musical fame. Blonde
haired, blue eyed and all of maybe 4 feet tall). This is a film
that really is just for their enjoyment. What I mean by that is
that there have been other “children’s” films that a
parent can enjoy and understand just as much as the kids but
this one, although really well done, was meant for the
elementary school and preteen boy out there.
Zachary Gordon plays Greg
Heffley, our protagonist, trying to get through the difficult
stage that is not exactly being a teen and yet not a little kid
either. Greg’s older brother Roderick (Devon Bostick) has all
but drilled into him how horrible Middle School will be for him
but plucky Greg decides that as he put it “I'll be famous one
day, but for now I'm stuck in middle school with a bunch of
morons”. He begins to work hard at finding a way to be cool.
This is not easy when your best friend still wants to have
sleepover parties and “come over and play” after school.
Speaking of best friend, Rowley (Robert Capron) is just so
absolutely adorable, sweet and unaffected by all of Greg’s
attempts to find his away into the yearbook superlatives page.
Surviving P.E., Patty Ferrel (Laine MacNeil) trying to beat you
up at every turn, the school play, bullies and just so much
drama is not easy but after so many trails and misses Greg
finally gets it. All along Greg thought Rowley’s childishness
is so uncool but he obviously tries too hard to be cool and
fails miserably. As Louie (Ralphie’s buddy) put it “trying
too hard doesn’t get you what you want - just the opposite”.
So much insight from an eight year old!
The actors in this film did a
great job such as Steve Zahn as the dad, clueless yet sweetly
supportive of his boy. Rachel Harris as the mom, adorably
sending her middle child off to middle school all the while
mortifying him. I experienced this myself this year as my 12
year old middle child went off to middle school and I sat
outside in my car and cried and prayed for him while he walked
away from me - not easy but you have to let go.
There are certain scenes in the
film that will gross out the adults and totally be cool for the
kids such as Fregley’s (Grayson Russell) freckle - “it has a
hair in it!” or my personal, ahem, favorite, the CHEESE. I’m
not going to go into detail about the CHEESE, but it can be said
that it was a character in the film and I will say that it still
has me grossed out 4 days after the screening. Ralphie thought
it was cool so what do I know. To wrap it up - this is a film
that is good clean entertainment (except for the CHEESE) that
your kids will love. I must say that lately a lot of the so
called “children’s” films that have come out, I did not
feel comfortable allowing my kids to view them without a few
disclaimers. In this case, bring the young ones with your eyes
closed and fully trusting that there will not be any
uncomfortable moments. Oh, by the way, Greg and Rowley do make
it into the superlatives page after all!
Film
Review By Priscilla
priscilla@smartcine.com
DVD: Diary of a Wimpy Kid is presented in
a widescreen format with a 1.85:1 aspect ration. The
transfer looks clean, judging from the watermark screening
received it is very difficult to determine the real quality
of the video, however I wont doubt that the final product
will be just fine. The picture is
complemented with a 5.1 Dolby digital sound with Spanish and English subtitles.
In the field of special features
the single disc only offers a total 10 deleted scenes that in
reality don't add anything interesting to the movie. It also
includes a feature commentary with Director Thor Freudenthal and Writer Gabe
Sachs.
VIDEO:
1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
AUDIO:
English 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish and French Dolby Surround
Subtitles - English Spanish - Optional
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Greg’s Deleted Diary Pages
Feature Commentary with Director Thor Freudenthal and Writer Gabe
Sachs
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