Movie review: Diary of a Wimpy Kid ***

3/19/2010

As many previous articles have established, your friendly neighborhood movie reviewer is no big fan of children's movies. I generally rank them by asking myself, "How many limbs would I hack off to escape this movie's clutches?"

In the case of Diary of a Wimpy Kid — none. Maybe a toe. As curmudgeonly responses go, this is pretty solid praise.

The film is a live-action adaptation of Jeff Kinney's illustrated novel, and while I miss his stick-figure character designs, the cast is not bad. Zachary Gordon plays Greg, who is trying to survive year one of middle school. He's smart, funny, and deeply self-centered, obsessed with his place in the popularity pecking order, but scarcely notices that his classmates have feelings too. Gordon is likable even when Greg is acting like a dork, which is often. He has the exuberance and vulnerability to make Greg relatable, not just a wimpy sad sack.

His sidekick, Rowley, is an artless butterball with an unsinkably sweet disposition. Robert Capron plays this character with a few more layers than the stock fat kid-part. As he begins to realize that his best friend wants to ditch him for the cool kids, his bruised innocence and injured pride are touching. He calls to mind a junior-edition John Candy.

The cool kids want no part of Greg, and the film is essentially a series of calamities and humiliations befalling him. There are male and female bullies, stern school authorities, and any number of troubles that Greg brings on himself by acting pretentious.

Rowley's instinctive goodness teaches Greg important lessons, but it doesn't feel cloying. No kiddie movie would be complete without spazzy supporting characters, booger jokes, yucky food, and toilet humor; "Diary" delivers them in abundance without straying too far from Disney Channel wholesomeness. Chloe Moretz, the wise little sister from (500) Days of Summer, pops up enjoyably as a student journalist responsible for exposes like "Cheerleader Gains Pound!"

This is a nice little movie. Now all you kids get off my lawn!