Review of Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2021) by Theredsky — 12 Dec 2021

It’s hard not to compare this to the Live Action films from the early 2010s so I decided that it’s fair to compare them to the original films and when you compare them, it’s terrible. If the original films didn’t exist then this would be a 4/10 or 5/10 but because those exist, it makes this pointless.

All of the charm and personality from both the original books and movies is just gone. It feels very bland and boring. The film only has a runtime of just under an hour but it feels longer. It goes by the book’s plot beat for beat with minor changes and there’s nothing wrong with that but it doesn’t have that personality.

The film decided to try and differentiate itself from the books in two ways, cutting whole sections it and changing Greg. There are whole sections from the book that don’t happen here such as the play.

It feels incomplete without those fun scenes. Greg in this isn’t the sociopath he is in the books and movies. In fact, Rowley is the one in the wrong this time which completely goes what the books are about.

The animation is fine I guess? It never looks terrible but it never looks good either. The voice acting is fine as well but it still lacks the personality and humor from the original films. Greg’s Mom did a decent job but there didn’t edit her audio sometimes so you could clearly hear that she recorded her lines in 2 completely different locations.

I definitely would not recommend checking this out. Watch the originals instead.