'Wimpy' grows up while keeping a fun edge

The young characters begin to show heart in the pleasant movie

By Amy Biancolli
Houston Chronicle

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Aug 03, 2012

~~<p>The audience for the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" series, based on the humongously popular kids' novels by Jeff Kinney, splits into two distinct demographic pie slices. One is middle-school boys. The other is parents of middle-school boys. You know who you are.</p>
<p>Both groups — but probably the second more than the first — will be thrilled to know the latest installment, subtitled "Dog Days," is the best, funniest and least obnoxious of the three films so far. This time, the embattled Greg Heffley (Zachary Gordon) is facing the doldrums, and this time, he is not a complete jerk to his best friend Rowley (Robert Capron). Nor is Greg's older brother Rodrick (Devon Bostick) a complete jerk to Greg. In this round of Heffley-centered shenanigans, characters are only partial jerks to one another; even better, at key junctures in the plot they're actually (gulp) nice to each other. Real emotions get expressed. Real family harmony emerges. Shocking.</p>
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<td><strong>‘DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: DOG DAYS'</strong><br />
<strong>Rated:</strong> PG
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The audience for the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" series, based on the humongously popular kids' novels by Jeff Kinney, splits into two distinct demographic pie slices. One is middle-school boys. The other is parents of middle-school boys. You know who you are.

Both groups — but probably the second more than the first — will be thrilled to know the latest installment, subtitled "Dog Days," is the best, funniest and least obnoxious of the three films so far. This time, the embattled Greg Heffley (Zachary Gordon) is facing the doldrums, and this time, he is not a complete jerk to his best friend Rowley (Robert Capron). Nor is Greg's older brother Rodrick (Devon Bostick) a complete jerk to Greg. In this round of Heffley-centered shenanigans, characters are only partial jerks to one another; even better, at key junctures in the plot they're actually (gulp) nice to each other. Real emotions get expressed. Real family harmony emerges. Shocking. ‘DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: DOG DAYS' Rated: PG Login for more...