Last year, Diary of a Wimpy Kid was a huge surprise for me. I really didn’t know what to expect so I didn’t expect much at all. However, it was clever, hilarious, and very entertaining. It was one of my favorite movies from last year. So I was actually looking forward to the sequel, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, and I guess I was expecting too much this time around. While the performances are still good, the funniest characters (Rowley and Fregley) barely have any scenes, and somehow the movie has traded out humor for just plain cheesy.
In this sequel, most of the action does not happen in school but rather at home. Much of the story focuses on the bond (or lack thereof) between two brothers. Greg Heffley (Zachary Gordon) is now a 7th grader and so begins a new school year and this time he forms a crush on a new girl named Holly Hills (Peyton List). He wants to start fresh and is still attempting to be popular, and he has his best bud Rowley (Robert Capron) by his side. Meanwhile at home, Greg’s older brother, Rodrick (Devon Bostick), is still tricking and tormenting him. And he kicks the movie off by making Greg look like a fool in front of Holly. Greg and Rodrick’s parents (Rachael Harris and Steve Zahn) want them to bond and make several attempts to try to make them do so, but it is the trouble they get in to that ends up making them not just brothers…but friends.
Director David Bowers (Flushed Away) gives the movie the same chemistry and characters that were enjoyed in the first one. But some things are too much of the same. There are more than a few times this movie recalls some events from the last one that do nothing for the story. It feels a little bit like backtracking for the audience.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules has the same feel of the first one and still has a nice meaning for the family. It is harmless fun and will work great with younger audiences. But personally, I was disappointed by this one. It has lost a good portion of the fun and humor that made the first one so good. It is a definite change-up from the original and I hope in the next chapter of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, we get back to Greg and his troubles at school and back on the right track with more scenes with Rowley and Fregley. I am not giving up hope yet.
Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association, the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and the star of The Vick’s Flicks Podcast. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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