Diary of a Wimpy Kid Review

Thanks for checking out my review of Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

Overview: "Diary of A Wimpy Kid" follows the travails of wise-cracking middle school student Greg Heffley over the course of an academic year.

The Good: First off, the marketing. Oh man, the marketing and trailers for this movie made me want to avoid this movie like the plague. I hated the trailer. I saw it anyway because I had nothing better to do. (LOL). First off, this movie is much better than the ads they're showing.

The humor. The trailers showed that the humor is crude, stupid, idiotic, and unfunny. Surprisingly, they took some of the humor out of the movie that we saw in the trailer. Yes, some humor is unfunny and crude, but this movie is actually (dare I say it) FUNNY. I laughed multiple times, enjoying the pop-culture references, awkward moments, and great characters.

The characters: Greg Heffley is actually kind of a jerk throughout this movie, but what makes him so likeable is his believability and the fact that he doesn't know he is a jerk. Zachary Gordon plays through the role very well, and plays like a true wimpy kid. Plus there's the other likable and funny characters from the books in here as well.

The Story: I don't want to give any spoilers here, but the filmmakers added some stuff in the movie that wasn't in the book. There's a speech in the end that Greg makes but don't want to give it away, but it's sort of the moral of the story, which was nice and touching. Nice story about the dangers of middle-school.

The relationships between Greg and Rowley: Rowley, Greg's best friend, is a likable guy but kind of clueless. When they (minor spoiler) aren't friends anymore, it's actually kind of sad and makes Greg realizes what he had done. Great relationship and acting between these actors.

True to the books: Look, I loved the books. Just loved them. This movie adds animated cartoons from the book into here, and it is just fun and great to watch. It adds a lot to the story.

The Bad: This movie had some unnecessary parts to it, such as some dumb and unfunny humor, language, and gross parts.

Somewhat unsatisfied ending: Really, it's a cute ending. Seriously, happy ending. BUT they could've shown a little bit more footage of what happens that could've gone on for 2 or 3 minutes, just to tie up some loose ends. Not that bad, though.

Overall: Diary of a Wimpy Kid is one of the most pleasant surprises I've seen in a movie. Marketing should have showed what good a movie this is. Hilarious, touching, cute, likable, believable, true to the books, and ultimately a great movie that's definitely worth checking out. A-

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief Review

Thanks for checking out my Percy Jackson review. Here's the basic plot.

"It's the 21st century, but the gods of Mount Olympus and assorted monsters have walked out of the pages of high school student Percy Jackson's Greek mythology texts and into his life. And they're not happy: Zeus' lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect. Even more troubling is the sudden disappearance of Percy's mother. As Percy adapts to his newly discovered status as a demi-god (his father is Poseidon), he finds himself caught between the battling titans of Mt. Olympus. He and his friends embark on a cross-country adventure to catch the true lightning thief, save Percy's mom, and unravel a mystery more powerful than the gods themselves. (moviefone.com)

The Good: I really enjoyed these books. Very entertaining,with great action and humor. Great series, and people would expect them to ruin it by marketing for their new movie. I enjoyed the trailer, but just didn't see like the book. But this movie doesn't hit the ground at all, no sir. It's just about as good as the Harry Potter series, seriously.

Great special effects and action. Harry Potter has good CGI and some definitely intense and scary moments. Percy Jackson has all of that, if not more so. Lots of intense action that may be too exciting and scary for the young ones. So with nonstop action (and some actually frightening moments), this movie is very enjoyable and entertaining.

Good story. Based on the books, Percy Jackson goes into another world (hint, hint, harry potter) and realizes what he's capable of. (Do I have to say it again?) But the plot is good enough to keep it going along, with some great twists if you haven't already read the books.

Actually good with the source material. This movie actually follows the books pretty well. There's still a ton of material they left out (probably for runtime reasons), but it follows the book pretty much how I imagined it. Good job!

Hilarious. It's hard to make a movie like this funny. Wrong. There are some great laugh-out-loud moments in this movie, not only from the dialogue, but because it's extremely fun to watch and easy to enjoy.

The Bad: Not-so-bad bad guy. I won't give it away, but the "actual" lightning thief in this movie is actually not so evil. This person steals it because he/she wants revenge from his/her father/mother. But it's a pathetic reason to start a war. This bad guy's reputation is disappointing, and is not like in the books.

Annoying cliches. Not so many, but you know how the bad guy has the good guy on the edge of death? Always waits until the last minute talking and babbling on what he's going to do after he kills the hero. Then a miracle happens for the good guy and the bad guy loses. Always. Well, that happens in here. It's actually pretty pathetic, because he talks, and waits for a few minutes not saying a word, because he's amazed at the miracle that's happening right in front of him! That's just so annoying to me.

Overall: Movies and books are like apples and oranges. Both great, but have different tastes. I won't just this movie based on the book, and when I do that, I realize I've seen a pretty darn good, enjoyable ride. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief is definitely worth checking out, with its fun story and great action and visuals. A-.