Review
by Bob Ignizio
Leaving
behind the confines of school for the wider world of possibilities
that summer vacation opens up, DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: DOG
DAYS is nonetheless still
pretty much the same movie as its two predecessors. Once again Greg
Heffley (Zachary Gordon) is at heart a good kid who gets into trouble
by trying to be someone he's not and lying to cover up when his plans
backfire. His older brother Rodrick (Devon Bostick) does his best to
make life for Greg miserable while the boys' parents (Steve Zahn and
Rachael Harris) remain largely clueless. Robert Capon is back as
Greg's nerdy but nice best pal Rowley, and Peyton List returns as
well as Holly Hills, the girl Greg has a crush on and frequently
embarrasses himself in front of. In the end, Greg learns one more
time that honesty is the best policy.
Aside from the
feeling of deja vu the film engenders, it also feels more disjointed
than the previous two entries. Whether that's the result of trying to
fit two books into one screenplay, lackadaisical filmmaking, or just
the fact that with the freshness gone, such flaws stand out more, the
fact is the movie just doesn't flow very well. Fortunately the cast
are as winning as always, and scenes like the one where youngest
Heffley son Manny (Connor and Owen Fielding) gives himself a bath in
a urinal using the deodorant cake as soap still deliver on the kind
of juvenile gross-out humor every 12 year old (and 12 year old at
heart) finds is hilarious.
DOG DAYS
is arguably as good and contains about as many laughs as the previous
entries, but it's impossible to deny that the series is beginning to
feel stale. Of course, that hasn't hurt sales of the books these
movies are based on, so most likely that's not nearly as bothersome
to the movie's target audience of middle school-age kids as it is to
this middle aged critic. For them, the fact that the settings and
some of the situations in DOG DAYS
are new is novelty enough. Who cares if the characters haven't grown
in the slightest over the course of the series, or that a lot of the
jokes feel recycled? For kids, familiarity doesn't breed contempt;
it's comforting. 2 1/2 out of 4 stars.
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