Book: Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Gap between first publication and film release: 3 years--2007 to 2010 (shortest yet!)
Closeness to original characters: 90% (Kate)
Closeness to original story: 88% (Kate)
Gap between first publication and film release: 3 years--2007 to 2010 (shortest yet!)
Closeness to original characters: 90% (Kate)
Closeness to original story: 88% (Kate)
Mike says middle school is one of the periods of my life I have really struggled to forget. As such, I couldn't decide if I was impressed or horrified by how well this movie captured the overall experience, thus bringing back every repressed memory that was hidden in the shadowy parts of my brain.
I've been meaning to read Dairy for a while, but I still haven't gotten to it! The movie, however, is pretty well done, and I did enjoy it... mostly. Greg's overall lack of understanding and compassion for Rowley makes it fairly hard to watch. While Greg does redeem himself in the end, throughout the entirety of the movie I found myself feeling that he deserved every rotten thing that happened.
Roderick made a definite impression on me. Growing up, the closest thing I had to an older sibling was my cousin Vito, who regularly made my life pretty miserable. He died recently, leaving me with some unresolved feelings about him. The actor playing Rodrick channeled my cousin Vito, both looks and personality, so precisely that I actually had to stop the movie for a short time! But, as the evil older brother, he did a great job.
Rowley was great, cute, and fun to watch. I did have to share Greg's confusion in the movie, as the "funny" and popular kids in my school never seemed to have a sense of humor I understood.
Overall, a cute flick, and one that would probably have been a little too accurate for me to watch as a kid. Sheesh, even watching it now, I start sweating and worrying about late homework.
Kate says in some ways the book is far funnier than the movie--simply due to the nature of Greg's diary. As the narrator, Greg automatically conceals information leaving readers to figure out what "really" happened. There are gaps between what he confesses and what is actually occurring. This creates some very funny exposition.
However, the movie is extremely funny and has great moments: the peeing incident, the "self-esteem" video with the substitute break-dancer (this particular moment elicited bellyaching laughs on my part), the baptism by water on Halloween (even though I knew it was coming), the kindergartners caught in the rain, the "I'm sorry, women" speech, Rowley and Greg's hopeless fight.
One disappointing difference is that Greg seems more obsessed with popularity (present and future) in the movie than in the book. Granted, the issue of popularity is raised in the book, but Greg is more concerned with survival than coolness or, rather, coolness as a way to survival than a goal in and of itself.
It's a subtle distinction, but I found book-Greg slightly easier to relate to than movie-Greg. Movie Greg seems a tad full of himself in a way he doesn't in the book. He also seems more clueless in the movie. In the book, Rowley's oddness is a continual issue for Greg, and the reader mostly believes that Greg kind of has a point. (For one, in the book, Greg's cartoons are funnier than Rowley's, being quite clever.) But in the movie, it takes about 2 seconds to figure out that Rowley is one of those kids that everybody just adores, so what is Greg's problem?
However, the pay-off (Greg sacrificing his reputation for Rowley) is just as touching in the movie as in the book.
And Zachary Gordon as Greg is witty (quite dryly sometimes) with perfect intonation and facial expressions. Robert Capron as Rowley is, well, adorable.
Everyone else--the family, the fellow students, the teachers--are right on the ball as comedic types. Angie is a little out of place, being more of a high school than junior high type. Rodrick is played by an actor who is NOT 16. However, they both play important roles, Rodrick especially.
And the junior high students are scarily right--supremely strange Fregley, tiny Chirag Gupta--not to mention the scary junior high customs, such as Lord of the Flies gym classes and school plays where no one follows (or remembers) the lines.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid is the kind of movie I could never watch when I actually was in junior high--it's too close to reality! But from safe adulthood, it is a hilarious, sweet, trip into the weird world of early adolescence.
1 comment:
I agree that the meanness does grate somewhat. It also surprised me since Greg is far less obviously mean in the book. Part of this is the emphasis in the movie on Greg wanting to be popular. The book is far more like real life where Greg is kind of floating through junior high; occasionally, ideas occur to him. In the movie, Greg is given an object in life which is less real but understandable from a narrative point of view.
The second reason for the difference is that Greg narrates the book. The reader only sees things through his eyes. Kinney doesn't even insert "adult" commentary. The end result is that the reader sympathizes with Greg almost automatically because that is the only voice the reader hears.
There's a neat pair of books by a writer named Mary Stolz called The Dog on Barkham Street and The Bully on Barkham Street about two boys who live next to each other. In each book, you never leave the viewpoint of one boy, so the "bully's" actions aren't explained until you read his book. Likewise, the boy who feels bullied often misreads his neighbor's actions, but when you are in his head, you get why.
I'm not sure if this particular approach can be done in a movie! I think it can be done to a point, but there's an automatic objective/third-person viewpoint because audience members are accessing visual clues whether the director wants them to or not. Granted, this is true of books, but the book writer has more direct control over what clues are supplied.
It just goes to show that unlike much accepted wisdom, movies are far more complex creations in some ways than books!
Post a Comment