Welcome to movie math where we take a look at a movie and see if it adds up to family fun.

Normally I do my movie reviews on Thursday, but this Wimpy Kid movie is fresh in my head and I’m feeling thus compelled and since I almost never refuse my compulsions, well, except to jump up and down on the hood of that mommy in the silver Mercedes who made a right turn in front of me from the straight lane to the LEFT! of me during drop off this morning… Thanks lady! Care about your kids’ lives much?

 

  DIARY OF A WIMPY KID – Let me preface this review by saying that we did not read the books, I know, sacrilege. So I’m reviewing strictly from the standpoint of this story as a movie. And with that in mind, lemme tell you that JULIA LOVED IT! Did we parents love it as much? Eh, not as much, no. Don’t get me wrong, it was no Shark Tales which to me is the measure of all things horrible in children’s movies. It was WAAAAAAAY above that. In fact, there were two scenes in there, one involving cheese and another involving a school bathroom, that had me and Randy the perfekt husband laughing so hard we had tears streaming down our faces (and made the kids around us hold their popcorns tightly to their chests). That hasn’t happened since we saw THE HANGOVER. Before that, the scene in 40 YEAR-OLD VIRGIN where a drunk Leslie Mann drives Steve Carell home. The point is, it rarely happens AND it almost NEVER happens in kids’ movies. But it happened here. As kid movies go, Wimpy Kid had the right stuff. Julia thought is was hilarious throughout. Well, except for a booger scene or two. Unlike me, who grew up with five brothers and know from boogers and farts and other bodily functions, Julia is an only child and therefore a bit of a delicate flower when it comes to scatological humor. But when things got too booger-y, she just closed her eyes. Lord Voldemort, no biggie. A boogie on a piece of paper… the horror! Overall, the movie was a nice combination of live action with some animation thrown in. And it had some very nice messages about being yourself. And it was nice to see a protagonist who wasn’t a total good guy. In fact, he was kind of the Dexter of kids movies. Okay, maybe that’s going too far.  Still, he was pretty stinky and self-involved. But he learned his lesson. And isn’t that’s what’s important in these kids’ movies? Well, that and some HIGH-sterical scenes about rotting cheese. So true to life. So very kid-like. When we left the movie we were still laughing. Especially from Julia’s spot-on imitation of the east Indian kid saying,” Oooh, you almost got the cheese touch.” Man, I’m telling you, my kid and her accents, she could do voiceover work.  I don’t know if they’ll make a sequel, but if they do they better do it fast. Because if ZACHARY GORDON who plays the title character pulls a Taylor Lautner–esque growth spurt, it won’t do for this franchise what Taylor’s six pack did for the Twilight series. Hurry guys! Hurry it up! In fact the film should be in the can NOW!  In theaters

 

GREAT KID HUMOR + NICE LIFE LESSONS + ONE WACKY CHEESE SUBPLOT = A PRETTY FUN TIME FOR ALL