Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (2012)

At the end of my review for Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, the predecessor to this film, I optimistically stated, "Rodrick Rules is a tiny bit more mature than it's predecessor, but in the long run it's just not at all funny." The makers of Dog Days clearly listened to the second part of that sentence and overlooked the first. This is yet another installment of a series that is still grounded, despite its impression that it has taken off three films ago.

I feel the need to reiterate this fact; I am a faithful fan to the book series Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I have been since it made its debut on the FunBrain website, where you had to scroll through a formal calendar and see what the main character Greg Heffley experienced day-by-day. Then came the novel, with its notebook-paper designed pages, the adolescent handwriting style, and the simplistic doodles at the bottom of each page vividly illustrating the above passage of text. They were keenly written treasures. The films are deplorable.

This one merges two of the series' novels, which were the third book, The Last Straw, and its follow-up, Dog Days, and that is perfectly fine with me. The less of these I have to sit through the better. Our film begins with Greg Heffley (again, reprised by Zachary Gordon) and his family attending a water-park just a day before the last day of school. Greg is held responsible for his youngest brother, Manny, who we see wash his hands with a urinal cake within the first few minutes of the film. We then see a crowded pool of people, some eating pizza and dropping it in the water, and when Manny later invites Greg to play with him in a smaller pool, he informs him that he is peeing in the water as they speak, as well as the other young children. You can see where this is directly headed.

The remainder of the film follows the simple plot of Greg, again, mooching of his best friend Rowley (Robert Capron) into being his guest at a country club. Because his father (Steve Zahn) wants him to lay off the video games, Greg impulsively lies to his parents and says he is currently working there. His older brother Rodrick (Devon Bostick) quickly sees through his lie, and Greg informs that the there are many perks to this country club, including his crush, Holly (Peyton List), who frequents the venue working as a tennis instructor for the young. Rodrick has a crush on Holly's sixteen year old sister (who looks about twenty or twenty-one, but don't they all), so as long as Greg agrees to sneak him in whenever he wants, he won't say anything.

One of the film's many subplots is that on the last day of school, Holly is eagerly signing everyone's yearbook and Greg wants her to sign her phone number in his. He politely asks her, she does so, but is distracted by a swarm of students fleeing school after the final bell and does not write down the final two digits of her number. This is a big problem in the beginning of the film, clearly brewing anger with our main character, but the dozens of attempts he will later get at the country club, he doesn't even ask or pretend to care when she states, "you got my number." Most illogical. And when he does, he is conveniently interrupted by someone else, mainly her older sister.

This film also furthers the use of gross out gags and idiocy to the point of maddening disgust. Scenes involving boogers (which are down there with the worst possible kind), involving a dog slobbering all over a pot roast and the family later consuming it, a

Fmovies: Executive summary: Only my eight year old son enjoyed it of the four of us, my six year old daughter found it only funny in places but with too much dialogue and not enough action, and my wife and I found it only mildly amusing.

This was a disappointing movie, once you've seen the trailer you don't need to see the movie.

The scenarios were built so slowly and the humour so obvious by the time it peaked the joke would be too late, or the moral over played, and a lot of the time I found I was only paying attention to see if I could second guess what would happen next.

The characters were pretty flat and shallow, even for a movie of this type, and the dialogue quite predictable.

The movie could have been packed into half the length without losing too much, and really could have been a straight-to-DVD release or even straight-to-TV movie.

Overall if I'd paid more than a few pounds or dollars in the bargain DVD bucket I'd feel I wasted my money, as it is paying GB£20 (about US$30) at the cinema for a family ticket left me feeling robbed.

I thought Dog Days was a pretty good film. I was very impressed with Zachary Gordon's acting and the rest of the cast. There are some different aspects and genre the film concentrates on. It's a very nice little film that is funny and makes you laughing out loud around every corner.

I thought Dog Days was missing something, something to make it shine. It felt unfinished or rushed. I don't know how to explain it. It just felt... unfinished? I quite wished to enjoy it a little bit more than I did, but it's still a good film for everyone. I still think the first two are a little bit better than this one, but it doesn't let down anyways.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days fmovies. Diary Of A Wimpy: Dog Days is a very funny movie with great,innocent humor for the whole family to enjoy.I find the characters and scenes in the movie very funny and in the cinema,people of all ages where laughing.I love the books,a lot more than the films,as usual,because movies based on books always leave a lot of stuff out,and thats no exception with the Diary Of A Wimpy Kid movies,especially this one,because its a mix of two,The Last Strraw and Dog Days,but it still is quit enjoyable and the scenes stay true to the scenes there based off from the book.

Greg Heffley is gearing towards a summer of doing nothing but playing video games,but his dad is not allowing this and wants him doing more activities.Greg pretends to his dad he got a job at a country club,but hes really just going there with his best friend Rowley and his brother Rodrick to have a good time,and to speak to Holly Hills,a girl he likes.Gregs summer plans aren't going exactly as planned.

This is one franchise that continues to tickle my funny bone, without trying too hard. The third in the film series, I hope that it continues to tap onto the series of books by Jeff Kinney - seven in total as of now - before the principal cast members get fully grown up and aren't kids any more. For those who have yet to experience this simple, yet effective kids comedy, perhaps it is time to jump right in, and experience just what the appeal is.

The story leaves school for a bit, and is set during summer vacation, where every kid has plans of their own which may, and most likely, differ from their parents' expectations on how best to spend time. For Greg (Zachary Gordon) the main protagonist, it means a summer that's filled with endless computer gaming, which dad Frank (Steve Zahn) completely disapproves of, preferring that he hit the big outdoors in wilderness camp, or to take up a job somewhere to build some sense of responsibility. Then there is his crush Holly (Peyton List), who spends her time coaching junior tennis at a country club, with the only way in is as a guest of his best friend Rowley Jefferson (Robert Capron), although Rowley's family, especially his dad (Alf Humphreys), isn't really too fond of the friend of their son. And to add to that, Greg's brother Rodrick (Devon Bostick) threatens to expose Greg's cover for visiting the country club unless he gets invited himself to enjoy the facilities and to gawk at Holly's sister Heather (Melissa Roxburgh), and a new canine addition to the family.

Dog Days is pretty loaded, but these little episodes all shine in their own right, and made the entire film work. Directed by David Bowyers, who was also at the helm of the previous film, Dog Days the film taps from scenes in both The Last Straw and Dog Days books and is set primarily during vacation, which means a little bit of a pity when we don't get to see the other zany supporting characters that much, especially Greg's other schoolmates who are off to do their own thing, sporadically appearing only if they happen to be attending the same event from wilderness camp, to a book reading club started by Greg's mom. The focus gets centered mostly on family, be it Greg's or Rowley's, and takes a closer look at the father-son relationship in Greg and Frank, with the spectre of boarding school looming on the horizon should Frank decide to let someone else play the responsible role of bringing up useful folks to society.

While some may opine that Dog Days doesn't offer too much as compared to the previous Wimpy Kid films, I thought that formed part of its strength in having the cast being already so comfortable and familiar in their role, there's really no need to have them doing something too spectacular for the sake of. I mean, it's like friends hanging out, where one can have a good time all due to the presence of the other, and that's sufficient. But there's danger at being just sufficient, because familiarity may breed complacency, although the source material should be rich enough, or perhaps like this one having two books fuel a single film, for another film outing. At least it's not artificially expanded with the filmmaker's own imagination to stuff another film for additional box office revenue.

With nary a swear word nor embarrassing scenes which you have to explain to your kids thereafter, Diary of the Wimpy Kid continues to be a family and kid friendly outing that grows on you. It's funny without the relia

If you're a fan of the first 2 movies, you'll probably like this one, but somehow, the word "hilarity" doesn't much apply this time around. Maybe it's because Greg has gotten a little older, or maybe the scope of the movie is bigger, or maybe it's because Greg's family aren't seen much this time. Or maybe it's because nothing in Greg's life this time around seems to be truly at stake. Whatever the reason, the movie is slightly less funny. But the movie does have some interesting ideas, so I guess it's still worth the ticket price. Just don't keep your hopes up high, at least not in the laughs department.

*** out of ****