DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: A Short But Worthy Beginning

After we received a total of four live-action films that brought Jeff Kinney’s book series to life, it was only a matter of time before we finally got one that’s animated. Though a child actor can do his very best, it can be difficult to assign that actor as Greg Heffley, when it’s been burned into our minds for over a decade as to what Greg Heffley looks like in the books. It’s like replacing Snoopy with a real dog; it’s hard to sell. This new 2021 rendition of Diary of a Wimpy Kid is an admirable attempt at restarting the franchise with Kinney’s illustrations being the core aesthetic, and though there are many issues with the film, it’s just enough to spark my curiosity to see where this new animated franchise goes.

A Question of Quality

We need to address the elephant in the room: This movie is 56 minutes long. You can essentially see Diary of a Wimpy Kid as an hour long pilot episode to a TV show. Or you could just call it the world’s longest short film. With the script following the storyline of the original 2007 book, it’s a mystery as to why several subplots have been removed — the school play, the safety patrols, and the yearbook plotlines are missing. Perhaps the team wanted to eliminate anything that could possibly detract from the main story, that is Greg (Brady Noon from Good Boys) trying to fit in on his first day of middle school, resulting in his friendship with Rowley (Ethan William Childress) being tested. Or perhaps you can be way more pessimistic about it and claim that the film is just unfinished.

The unfortunate part is the term “unfinished” can also be used to describe the animation. Though it is indeed faithful to the book’s illustrations in terms of appearance, the film faces a new challenge in bringing those images to a 3D space. Several textures like pavement, dirt roads, and even hair look extremely unrendered, leaving a big question mark up in the air about just how small of a budget this project was. With a lack of “camera movement,” the film admittedly has a flatness to its image. The experience is similar to seeing some of the first 3D animated films ever made, from the original Toy Story to Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius.

A Simple Story Told With Sincerity

Aside from how the film looks, Diary of a Wimpy Kid tells its story with only good intentions. There’s a sense of purity and sincerity in how it explores its themes. With Greg being told by his mean older brother Rodrick (Hunter Dillon) that he has to ditch Rowley in order to survive school, the anxieties set in. Little details like finding where your locker is, which bathroom to avoid, and whether you could find a seat in the cafeteria at lunchtime, are all things we’ve seen before in a children’s movie. That being said, they’re told with no judgment on the characters and their decisions.

Greg makes plenty of selfish mistakes in this film, but each one comes from an understandable insecurity that everyone has been through, especially during the transition from elementary school to middle school. Though he’s not the most likable protagonist, his journey makes for plenty of good and healthy life lessons for little kids who are about to experience the same things in their lives.

Though the film is never quite funny enough, it tries to make the most out of its humorous situations. The iconic image of moldy Swiss cheese on the pavement that gives anyone who touches it “the Cheese Touch” is still as cute and amusing as it was first written back in 2007. Being an animated film allows the ridiculous moments to really fly, making me wish the film, another take on Rodrick Rules, will go bigger and harder.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: It’s Not Great, But I’m Curious for More

The main thing holding back Diary of a Wimpy Kid is its low-budget, mediocre quality. It tells a familiar story and executes it on an arguably bare minimum. That being said, it’s harmless entertainment and provides pure and healthy takeaways for its target demographic. Though I wish the film would go bigger and more bombastic in style, it’s unclear whether the creative team had limited time or resources. The decision to drop it straight on Disney+ seems like the right idea — it’s simply too small to perform well in a theatrical run.

But that’s not always a bad thing. A low-quality movie that goes direct-to-DVD doesn’t always guarantee it is a bad movie. You can see this film fitting comfortably in a living room for the kids to watch, while the parents are busy working on their own things. Or maybe the parents have an hour to spare! Either way, it feels like Disney+ is the perfect place for this to live.

Perhaps I just went into this with low expectations, but the idea of a Wimpy Kid mini-series, in which each “episode” is an hour-long adaptation of one book, is not a bad idea at all. I look forward to future installments, and here’s to hoping they can be bigger and better in their technical execution. An animated franchise like this deserves the quality of a theatrical experience, alongside The Peanuts Movie and even Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie.

What did you think of Diary of a Wimpy Kid? Let us know in the comments below!

Diary of a Wimpy Kid was released on December 3, 2021 on Disney+!

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