![]() ![]() Frank is a perpetual hobbyist (model building in the basement! Civil War reenactments on the weekends!) fixated on the idea of Greg spending his summer outdoors. The two couldn’t be more different, at least on the face of things. After sitting on Steve Zahn for two movies, the Wimpy Kid franchise finally made use of his talents, bringing front and center Greg’s relationship with his father, Frank. Greg’s relationship with Rowley was the focal point of the first film in the series, but has remained significant even as the Wimpy Kid story evolves.ĭog Days, the third (and probably final) installment in the Wimpy Kid film franchise, shifts focus from school drama, friendship struggles and sibling warfare (though all are touched upon, at least briefly) to a more complicated matter: The parent/child relationship. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days highlights Rowley’s growing strength in standing up to Greg’s manipulations (a perpetual problem in their friendship), but also reveals Rowley’s deeper appreciation for the adventures for which Greg drags him along. Rowley has naive optimism in spades, but he’s also willing to stick up for himself when the occasion calls for it (a necessary skill for a friend of Greg’s). Greg might be a bit of an ass, but Gordon plays it with a quality of universal honesty that allows viewers to root for him.įar more likable is the affably hapless Rowley, Greg’s best friend and unwitting accomplice in his constant string of cons. Gordon carries the films, imbuing the character with a grounded familiarity that translates to reluctant likability. There are no cable castoff performances in these movies the child actors are top notch, particularly the leads: Zachary Gordon, as Greg, Robert Capron as Greg’s bumbling BFF Rowley and Devon Bostick as nightmarish older brother Rodrick. ![]() Perhaps Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days’ biggest strength is its young cast (though the grownups are good, too - more on that later). Author Jeff Kinney wrote Greg as an imperfect, but realistic, middle schooler. As the special feature FX Movie Channel Presents: Wimpy Empire reveals, this was intentional. Greg is lazy before all else, often putting more effort into avoiding life than living it. He’s not a role model and his troublemaking doesn’t spur from a thirst for adventure and a desire to see the world in new ways. Yes, many children’s films feature these mini misanthropes, but the Diary of a Wimpy Kid franchise dares to put such a character at the center of the story. He’s the troublemaker, the smart aleck, the premature cynic. Almost every kids’ movie has that character you love to hate.
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