Don't Fast Forward This One: 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' reminds me of 'A Christmas Story'

Peter Billingsley in A Christmas Story

Rachel Harris and Steve Zahn, Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Some might be surprised that I enjoyed 2010's Diary of a Wimpy Kid. It's an entertaining movie. 

I never heard of the book series by Jeff Kinney (my kids recently started listening to the audio books) the movie is based on until I found this movie at the public library in Lincoln, Nebraska back in 2013. 

I decided to watch it on a whim. To be honest, I can't remember my exact reasoning to give this movie, definitely not made for the likes of me, a try. But I did. 

I know Diary of a Wimpy Kid received less-than-savory, albeit not absolutely terrible reviews. Still, I enjoyed it more than I expected to. It's target audience is junior high kids. While I'm not a junior high kid, I used to be one.

While watching it, Diary of a Wimpy Kid kept bringing the 1983 Holiday comedy A Christmas Story to my mind.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid centers on young Greg Heffley (Zachary Gordon). He fights a lot with his older brother, Rodrick. He torments his younger brother Manny a little too much. He's also starting middle school, and is bombarded with mixed thoughts and misguided expectations about it. He's basically like most kids. 

Through Greg's narration, thankfully not over done, we understand what those expectations and goals are. He realizes, even at 13 or 14 - however old he is -  that what he is familiar and comfortable with is changing, and will continue to change. It's a hard lesson when a kid first realizes that it's happening. And with it comes realization that he must somehow cope. 

Heffley learns the good parts as well as the bad parts of middle school fairly quickly. A lack of popularity will resort to the new kid eating lunch of the cafeteria floor. P.E. teachers will also favor the bigger kids over the smaller ones. Though the audience has an unbiased view of this one particular aspect of typical American life for juveniles through the eyes of an 14-year old, they're still able to sit on the outside and look in. 

A Christmas Story, released nearly 30 years prior, is also based on a book - In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash by Jean Shepherd. 

Like Diary of a Wimpy Kid, it takes an unbiased look at a slice of typical Americana life.

For anyone who has consistently missed the movie's 24-hour marathon on TBS every Christmas, it's about nine-year old Ralphie Parker and his quest for a Red Ryder BB-gun, which he deems is the perfect Christmas present. 

The story is narrated by an adult Ralphie, reminiscing on his pursuit.  

A Christmas Story takes place in the 1940s - a period often viewed as America's "golden age." But the Parker family are less than golden. I talked about it in a post called Is A Christmas Story really a stupid movie? Ralphie is living in the 1940s while Greg is experiencing life in current time. Anyhow, it's satirical, but both movies are certainly not watered down.

Like A Christmas Story, Diary of a Wimpy Kid knows a thing or two...or three, about human behavior. It doesn't talk down to young audiences when portraying Greg's experiences transitioning just a little closer to adulthood, and seeing life as it really is. The story does a decent enough job depicting the common adolescent mistake of projecting specific personas to gain respect and attention from peers which children think they deserve and need for survival. Greg even goes so far as to try and turn his friend, Rowley, into what he wants him to be. As Ralphie has his friends Flick and Schwartz to pal around with and confide in, Rowley is about all Greg has. He doesn't "have" his older brother, Rodrick, for any support. Rodrick just assumes Greg will be "dead or homeschooled" before the year ends. 

But rather than appreciate Rowley for his own sake, Greg tries to change Rowley's image in order to bolster himself up on the popularity scale.

Both movies, especially Diary, reminds me of the line in John Lennon's song Beautiful Boy. "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." 

Both kids sure fantasize a lot about how their life ought to go if only they could steer their respective adults into doing things their way. But adults seem to love humiliating kids, whether their P.E. teacher is watching the big kids tackle the small kids, or their parents force them to wear humiliating bunny outfits their Aunt Clara sent them at Christmas.

Ralphie fantasizes how a Red Ryder BB-gun could possibly save the lives of his entire family from creeping marauders if only his parents, his teacher, and Santa Claus himself could see things his way. Greg, meanwhile, dreams how obtaining popularity could lead to an adulthood full of success, if only his parents, his friends, and fellow classmates could see things his way. 

At Warren G. Harding School, where Ralphie is enrolled, he and his friends face the pressure heaved on them by dog-dares, double dog-dares, and triple dog-dares. In the film, we see this pressure applied to poor Flick who's dared to stick his tongue to a frozen pole. Chickening out such a dare leads to a lasting stigma.

Meanwhile, at Greg's school, the stigma comes in the form of the dreaded "cheese touch" - it's a side story about a moldy piece of Swiss cheese forever present on the black top of the school yard. Anyone who touches it has ths "cheese touch" which is similar to the dreaded "cooties." 

It's the ultimate rejection because the entire school is in on it. When I was in elementary school, there was a moldy Oreo cookie that never left its spot on top of the support beams just below the awning at the main door of the music building. No one dared touch it. For all I know, it might still be there 25 years later.  

Anyways, dares are as old as kids themselves. As long as kids exist, so will dares. 

I think it's the simple dialogue from a pre-teen's line of reasoning, the honesty of these kid's lives - anticipations, hopes, expectations, and disappointments - that make these movies similar. Both are narrated by the main character.  

But Wimpy Kid doesn't condescend to its young audience. Yes, there's boogers and other gross out humor. Yes, there's the weird kids. Everyone in middle school had their encounters with "weird kids." Ralphie did as well. All in all, Wimpy Kid has a pretty good grasp on human nature and experiences, especially when it comes to a person's need to belong. 

We see this in Greg Heffley and his quest to be popular. 

All these depictions, though silly, don't go overboard. They're funny from an outside perspective looking in. It's a style similar to that of...you guessed it...A Christmas Story. 

When it comes to finding a niche to fit in, young Greg's options seem pretty limited to school and what it has to offer. 

Both he and Ralphie do get what they want, but it doesn't come to them in the way they thought it would. 

Ralphie gets his BB Gun, but from the one person he never asked. Greg does have his popularity, but he gets it through sacrificing his reputation for his friend Rowley. And he finds his "popularity" with those who actually knew him all along, and see his selflessness for what it is. He learns to appreciate what he always had. It just didn't come the way he initially wanted it to.

All audiences need to relate to Greg Heffley and Ralphie Parker are their own experiences being a kid. Either at some point in our lives, we had a toy we sorely wanted, convinced it would bring us happiness unlike anything else. And, at some point, we started a new chapter in our lives where our first task on hand was obtaining acceptance. We just needed to know the terms we needed to meet to obtain that acceptance. Both movies don't water anything down. They're blunt. What you see is what you get, even if you're 11-years old. Welcome to life!

Don't Fast Forward This One: My 10 personal favorite comic book movies

My "Comics to Movies" series of reviews is moving forward rather slowly, but it's still moving. I keep another blog 1000daysofhorror.blogspot.com which I've been giving more attention to. 

As the readers who follow my blog (I think there's two) know, I've been working on a series of reviews and commentaries on lesser known movie adaptations of comic books. In the meantime, I put together a list of my personal favorite movies in this genre.
I'm sure I'll be thrown some comments like "What? You included Dick Tracy but not Avengers: Endgame!" Yeah - I did. There are more comic book movies I enjoy immensely, but these below are ones that stand out to me. They're my personal favorites. 

And while Marvel has made some fun movies these last 10 + years (Ant Man, SpiderMan: Home Coming) as well as some less than savory movies (Doctor Strange - yeah, I didn't like that one). These picks, however, stand above the rest in my mind.  

Batman (1989) - This really stems from a nostalgic place for me. 

Tim Burton's 1989 movie Batman helped change the general public's idea of the caped crusader from the campy 1966 series image to a darker, grittier, no-nonsense superhero who doesn't spout off lines about good dental hygiene or always crossing on the crosswalk. 

While this image of Batman was already common among comic book readers, thanks in large part to artists like Frank Miller and his 1986 four-issue series The Dark Knight Returns, I wasn't reading any of that at the time of Burton's movie. I was heading to second grade in June, 1989. 

And this movie was "the movie of the summer." It made a huge impression on me. I became obsessed with Batman after I saw this. It's an obsession that has quieted down some, but hasn't died completely.  

I remember the theater exploded in cheers and applause at the scene in the third act where Batman flies his Bat Plane through the cloud cover of Gotham City, lining itself against the full moon to create the bat logo before flying headfirst towards the Joker's deadly parade. I still remember that. 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) - Despite the ridiculousness behind the idea of four mutated turtles, as well as how tired parents must have been with all the hype surrounding the Ninja Turtles back in the 1990s, this movie is actually a really decent film. I'm trying to approach it from an outside perspective looking in. 

The story line is a serious one, even with the understanding that the audience at the time would predominately be children. 

The movie tackles truth, family bonds, trust, dedication, personal honor, selflessness versus greed, and corruption in society, 

The movie starts off rather serious as we witness a crime network of teens at work, all organized just to steal a man's wallet. It then goes to just how swift this network is at stealing televisions, and even an entire truck of electronics. It sets a serious tone for a movie about heroes with a huge kid fan-base. 

And though critic Roger Ebert wrote that he didn't walk out of this movie with renewed spirits as he wasn't expecting much when walking in, he did say "this movie is nowhere near as bad as it might have been, and probably is the best Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie." He wrote that in his review back in 1990, I think it's an opinion that still holds true. 

Oh, and throw in some Jim Henson puppetry. That's the topping on the pizza!

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) - I admire Marvel Studios for bringing comic heroes to the big screen that aren't as mainstream as commonly recognizable heroes like SpiderMan or Captain America. 

Guardians of the Galaxy falls into that category for me. I was unfamiliar with the Guardians until the movie came out. I was sold by the trailer and the positive reviews.

It was definitely one of the first comic movies I sat through and thoroughly enjoyed, and felt good about after watching. 

Maybe that's thanks the use of light and colorful atmosphere as opposed to the seemingly consistent dark, shadowy, rainy atmosphere often seen in comic movies. 

The humor is right up my alley. I loved the chemistry of the characters. Chris Pratt is a perfect casting choice as Peter Quill/ Starlord. The dialogue was somehow believable...even for Rocket Raccoon. It's original for being a comic-based film. And though I call it a superhero movie, it's really more about individuals very different from each other, yet still able to work together towards a common goal. And those individuals become important to each other after their mission is accomplished. I felt good walking out of the theater when I saw this. This is my favorite among Marvel movies so far, followed closely by Guardians of the Galaxy vol. II. 

Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance (1972) - Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vegeance is the first of six samurai movies based on the Manga series by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima. The actors clearly take this movie seriously. The acting, sets, camera work, and dialogue - this is a fantastic and well done film. Granted the effects are certainly a product of a budget probably on the lower side. The fighting scenes are entertaining. It's a darker movie for sure as the protagonist, Ogami Itto, is an assassin-for-hire knowing full well his way of life is evil. But he still maintains a sense of compassion towards those suffering from injustices. 

I reviewed Sword of Vengeance among my "Comic to Movie" reviews, which you can read by clicking here. 

Dick Tracy (1990) - What sets the 1990 Warren Beatty movie Dick Tracy apart from other comic book based movies is its style. It's the most comic-styled movie I've seen. It's a modern film noir with bright colors amid a somewhat gritty backdrop. 

It was an original style for its day. In other words, Dick Tracy is as close to an acted out comic strip than any other movie I've seen. The colors. The framework. The imagery. And on top of that, the all-star cast make this movie distinct from other movies in this genre. After Batman, which was released the year before, I think Dick Tracy was a source of inspiration for future comic book movies. It's kind of an unsung hero of such movies. I wrote about this film earlier on my blog as well. The link to that can be found here: Dick Tracy

Joker (2019) - This was certainly a different angle for a comic movie. It's based on one of the most iconic antagonists ever printed on old text stock. Without going into too much detail, this movie wasn't afraid to show certain modern mentalities are fueled more by emotion than on reasoning and deduction. I loved this movie for being something audiences haven't seen yet in the way of origin stories and social commentary. 

Joaquin Phoenix's performance is fantastic as he depicts the breakdown of a mentally ill man left alienated and alone by his government (via his social worker), his career, those close to him, and finally by his community.

Akira (1988) - This movie is just outright amazing. Based on the 1980s era Manga series, the animation is absolutely striking and impressive. I can't think of a big enough word? The story is unique and brilliant. I just admire this movie so much. I'm not necessarily into anime, so Akira is really the only anime movie I enjoy so far. Friends have recommended other anime titles to me, but I just haven't gotten to those yet. I'm sure I will, though. 

The dark apocalyptic story is brilliant. The pace of this movie goes faster and faster. Akira is a masterpiece in animation and storytelling!

Superman II (1980) - Don't get me wrong. I love the first Superman movie! But the second film I've always found more engaging and comic book-y. There's a lot that's been said about Superman the movie. While the first is a fantastic on-screen introduction to the Man of Steel, the sequel gives us a little more of Superman. The audience has more personal insight into Clark Kent/ Superman. Plus, the action with General Zod is really edge-of-your-seat storytelling. 

Wonder Woman (2017) - Even though I'm not among the target audience for female superhero films like Wonder Woman, or Captain Marvel, I still have a little more appreciation for female superheros who don't need to rely on male counterparts. Characters like Batgirl, or Supergirl, or She-Hulk are certainly iconic and have a well deserved fan base. Still, Wonder Woman doesn't have a "Wonder Man" to help bolster her popularity in any capacity. She's a source of inspiration for her female fan base. Sure, a character like Batgirl is as well. And that's fantastic. Wonder Woman stands heroic on her own. 

The 2017 was such a fun and exciting movie. The action was brilliant. It was nice to get a DC Comics hero that was neither campy nor dark and gritty, hidden in shadows and disguises. And that Wonder Woman was made with an underlying respect evident in the movie is commendable.  

The audience in the theater I watched Wonder Woman in applauded at the scene where she climbs onto the battlefield amid gun fire, and walks determined towards the enemies among the storm of bullets. Not since 1989's Batman had I heard an audience applause at a DC Comics movie. 

Shazam! (2019) - Shazam! was a surprise of a movie for me, and I'm sure for a ton of other people. 

I think the fact this movie did so well surprised a lot of audiences. But it was fun, different, and well played. The movie has a central theme surrounding family. Its story reminds me of the essay scene from the 2000 movie, Finding Forrester where Sean Connery's character, William Forrester, reads Jamal Wallace's essay towards the end of the movie.

He says, "Losing family obliges us to find our family. Not always the family that is our blood, but the family that can become our blood. Should we have the wisdom to open our door to this new family, we will find that the wishes we had for the father who once guided us, and for the brother who once inspired us, are not merely wishes at all. A family is not what you always imagine it will be." That sentiment surely applies to the story of Shazam!

Watching it brought me back to the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland where I first saw Batman in 1989. It's certainly a lot different in style and tone than any Batman movie. But it still left an impression on me.

Zachary Levi playing a kid in the form of an adult, without making it stupid, was believable. I think DC was smart for making this movie with care. 

The enthusiasm in this story is refreshing to see. Perhaps it pulled some of that from Marvel's SpiderMan movies? I don't know. But, it's there and great to see.