‘Wimpy’ grows up while keeping a fun edge

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" opens on Greg’s final days of seventh grade, and he’s not happy. As he explains to the audience, "summer vacation is basically a three-month guilt trip" — i.e., an onerous season when grownups are barking at him to go outside when all he really wants to do is hole up in the dark with video games. That, and get a little closer to pretty Holly Hills (Peyton List).

Greg’s dreams of slug-dom are dashed when his dad (Steve Zahn, who does some positively nuanced acting) guts all the TV cables and then insists on hauling him out for father-son activities. Greg’s only recourse is to accompany Rowley to the country club every day and then lie to his parents about getting a job there.

Needless to say, this is just the beginning of the young man’s many minor misadventures, which include a trip to an amusement park, an errant call to 911 and a camping expedition that goes horribly wrong (as though there’s any other kind).

Returning to the director’s chair for his second "Wimpy Kid" installment is David Bowers, who brings zippy pacing and an overall sunny disposition to match the summer theme. Many scenes are amusing, particularly those that humanize and/or humiliate and/or dump trash on Rodrick, and a few of them had me expelling genuine belly laughs. Near the end, a Justin Bieber tune gets a brilliantly awful punk makeover.

Maya Forbes and Wallace Wolodarsky, who together wrote "The Rocker," cobbled the screenplay from pieces of "The Last Straw" (the third book in the series) as well as "Dog Days." It hustles along, taking an occasional breather for life lessons and misty heart-to-hearts. The characters have grown since the first film, and thank goodness for that. Parents, rest assured: Greg will no longer bug the snot out of you. The film won’t, either.