Diary of a Wimpy Kid
disney+For many who grew up anytime from 2008 on, Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid book series was a staple of elementary school culture. Seeing the young Greg Heffley and his best friend Rowley go through the trials and tribulations of middle school hooked kids, and it was no surprise that eventually a film adaptation would find its way to the big screen. Now over a decade later and 4 editions deep into the live-action series, the franchise has found a reboot – this time taking a dive into the world of animation. Releasing exclusively on Disney+, 2021's Diary of a Wimpy Kid adapts the first book of the series with a clean 58-minute runtime becoming a perfectly passable adaptation that feels inoffensive yet uninspired.
The largest update given to the series clearly is the medium it is presented in. Inherently there was always going to be an issue in creating a live-action franchise out of the book series for one simple fact: kids grow up. While the franchise was able to get 3 relatively liked films out of Zachary Gordon as Greg, he simply grew too old to continue as the character. An attempted recast was made in Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul with Jason Ian Drucker taking over as Greg but fans rejected this change. Considering the book series is still going to this day, if a film series wanted to have legs there simply was no way it could be made in live-action. The answer to this is to become animated. This has allowed series like The Land Before Time and Pokémon to create decades of content with child characters with recasts being much less noticeable through voice acting.
This also makes sense as animation opens the door for a more cartoonish expression of Greg and the world around him, which is the visual language of the books. Being his diary, the books are illustrated by cartoon characters that Greg has supposedly drawn and the animation reflects this style with a more simplistic approach to character design. While every shot might not look great, the style overall works and it feels rather obvious that this is the correct way for the franchise to be brought to life.
It also helps that the voice performances are rather solid. While it is clear that there were some restrictions in the actual recording process, as the quality of the audio is incredibly uneven, Brady Noon and Ethan William Childress are incredibly likable as Greg and Rowley; Erica Cerra is heartwarming as Greg's mother. While overall innocent, each performance brings to life the more well-rounded emotions of these characters which easily is what makes them stand out whether on page or screen. Greg isn't perfect: he is selfish and is willing to take advantage of others to get what he wants. Greg's mom doesn't always know the right answer and there are some scenes where her desperation to see Greg do well are felt. While there is no venom or sting to the film, the characters having these shades of depth helps make them feel real and help ground the film in something more real than most children's films.
The plot itself is rather basic. At less than an hour, the film plays like a greatest moments compilation from the book with a basic backbone of Greg and Rowley figuring out their friendship as the string to tie it all together. While nothing super captivating, the charm of the story works well enough. The film takes no risk by stepping outside of what the book gave but also doesn't necessarily feel lazy either. it is a passable adaptation that never feels painful to sit through but also never really that rewarding.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a film that is hard to judge yet also impossible to really worship. The film sits as a fine adaptation that will offer light nostalgia for previous fans of the series while providing solid enough entertainment for new younger audiences. With a sequel already announced for 2022, it is clear that Disney has faith in this franchise and as a possible new staple of Disney+ it should continue to be fine brief stories that don't outstay their welcome while also not becoming anything super memorable either.
