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Diary of a Wimpy Kid


I chose Diary of a Wimpy Kid for J to read a couple of years ago, just after reading a few random pages from it. We both loved it - I got to read it only after J was done reading it about five times over. So when the book was made into a movie, J and I had to watch it. I liked the opening credits - it brought the book to life. The key characters were cast well enough.
And that's about all that was to like about the movie for anyone who has read the book and came in with expectations. The film adaptation takes out the best parts of the story and replaces it with random stuff that is an unnecessary and it is unappealing. There was enough and excellent material in the book to make a movie so this slicing, dicing and splicing did not make a whole lot of sense. 
What was appealing about this book to an adult reader was that the characters were entirely believable.Geoff Heffley is possessed of more pizazz, wit and intelligence than the average fifth grader, it makes sense when you consider he does not quite fit in and that his sense of humor is too mature for his peers.The movie has entirely Hollywoodized all that. Kids are dripping precocity to the point, the hero is no longer quite as special as he comes across in the book. In fact, the movie takes away from his character and leaves him being just another kid who is struggling to fit. Anyone whose read the book knows for a fact that is not what his character is about.
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ggop said…
Sigh..happens to so many books when they become movies!
2:47 PM
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