Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules

I didn't see the first movie and only knew of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid because my 7 year old daughter was reading the books. I was a bit apprehensive about the film and thought the best thing that would happen was that I might fall asleep during it.

I was relieved at the beginning to see it was live action rather than animation (yes - I had THAT little knowledge of what I was going to see!) Though there was a bad point at the very beginning where the car draws up with cartoon people inside. For a moment I feared it might be a cartoon/live action combo - but this was a temporary feature that was meant to bind the live characters to the cartoon ones in the book.

The first scenes in the roller skate arena made me wonder if it would just be about kids being horrible to each other. However, as the story developed I was quite captivated - the performances were all good, the story-line well paced, and various parts of the film made me laugh - and I rarely laugh at movies. I am wondering why the mother is pure Sarah Palin - this I will have to Google later. The film was an unexpected treat. It made a rainy day in Scotland a lot better.