For those who haven't read the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" books, let me tell you, they're really funny. Their target demographic may be a bit younger than I but the jokes all land. Especially when they reference Shel Silverstein.
Currently, there are four DoaWK books with a fifth scheduled to come out this year. But that's not the only 2010 "Wimpy Kid" release. Twentieth Century Fox bought the rights to turn Jeff Kinney's series into a full-length feature film. And that's where my excitement really peaked. Then the trailer came out. And that's when I pretended my excitement didn't actually peak as high as it did.
Live-action: strike one. Casting some random pre-teen with cooler hair than mine to play the three-stranded loser with a hunch: strike two. Hiring four screenwriters to produce a script and thereby replacing Kinney's intelligent humor with the same Kids-Are-Stupid, dumbed down "jokes" that have plagued children's movies like Inspector Gadget and Snow Dogs: a huge strike three. I know this arguement's been completely beaten to death, but whatever happened to movies like The Sandlot? Or The Neverending Story? Who's making live-action films for kids that don't treat their audience like pre-natal tards? I enjoyed Snow Day and even Max Keeble's Big Move when they came out but this one just doesn't do a thing for me. Maybe I'm just getting too old for this.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
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5 comments:
I agree completely. Kids are so much smarter than Hollywood gives them credit for. Everytime I go see a movie targeted for kids, I'm amazed at how dumbed down everything is. Scott, you seriously need to start writing movies for kids. Please. Don't let our kids have to suffer through the crap that is being produced these days.
I keep telling you Spy Kids is a great kids movie. And Spy Kids 2 is even better.
Kim - Thanks for the feedback! I going to write a reworking of The Bicycle Thief that incorporates thematic themes from a number of pre-code sex comedies and late-80s slasher films along with an underlying nod to the issues surrounding socialized medicine.
Whitney - I keep telling you that I've seen both of those movies and that I agree with you. :)
Was disheartened to see that picture. I showed it to my 9 year old (who has all the books) and he said "What!?".
I just went to watch the trailer. I don't know if I can show that to him...Ugh.
No one has cooler hair than you.
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