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.

My 8 & 9 year old kids wanted to see this movie. They've read the entire series. After seeing the low rating on IMDb, I was expecting this to be another disappointing kids movie. I have no idea why the rating is so low, this movie was hilarious. I'm a 34 year old mom and will say that this movie made me laugh harder than I have in a very long time. Don't let the low rating keep you from seeing this one! This movie will make you laugh. This movie will make your kids laugh. It's a great movie for the whole family. I thought it was better than the first wimpy kid movie and so did my kids. I am not going to spoil it for you. See it for yourself, you won't be disappointed.

After I saw the first installment a couple days ago, I was looking forward to the sequel, and I'm glad I did. Does Rodrick rule? Sort of. But he's not exactly made out to be the whole show here. With a movie this entertaining, its predictability is the least of its problems. In fact, its not a bad thing at all. Like I said, the movie is a bit predictable. Needless to say, the party sequence is, of course, more predictable than anything else. The movie just wants to entertain, tell a worthy story, and it never gets old. So, with a movie this good, its flaws don't matter in the slightest. So I hope there are more sequels to come.

*** out of ****

This is cinema. We should all be grateful that this film blessed us with its presence. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules cured my depression. It cured my great grandmothers cancer. It is the reason I passed calculus. If you do not like this movie I do not trust you.

Same song - second verse... Of course that doesn't mean it is bad. Some songs have a better second verse. I liked this movie. I find it hard not to like the family in this movie. I'm a school teacher and this book series is extremely popular with 8-12 year olds. I watched the first movie and found it to be better than I would have expected. This movie didn't give me the same feeling. Maybe the surprise was over or maybe it wasn't as good a storyline, but I like the first movie better. I noticed my kids didn't laugh as much during this movie and they both said they liked the first one better, but they were glad they saw Rodick Rules, of course they are both fans of the book series. If you have kids that are into this series then you need to take them to see the movie. I'm sure they will thank you for it.