Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul (2017) Reviews

• Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The Long haul - Simply put - don't waste your time on this awful attempt to resurrect the past!

  donjohngone2017-05-21

  Diary of a Wimpy Kid, the Long Haul, simply put, is a bad Film. Summing up The Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The Long haul = Predictable dialogue, predictable action, predictable repetitive jokes from the past, a lousy no-chemistry cast, and profoundly boring. The fact that everyone in the cast comes off as "acting" is just another nail in the coffin. About 98% of the reviews on Long Haul point out how bad the movie is. Variety and Hollywood Reporter gave it some kudos. Which shows that a big studio, like Fox, can still "Pay Off" reviewers in an attempt at not making the film a "total bust", which it is. You had an iconic cast in the first 3 movies that were excellent. The original cast had charm, chemistry, great interaction, and made 3 very entertaining movies based upon Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. This movie, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, the Long Haul, just doesn't connect at all. The Long Haul film is sort of like a stand alone idea created in an attempt to "con" the public into thinking this is a continuation of the original three movies. It is nothing of the kind. The movie is so bad on all accounts that 20th Century Fox had to go out and try and get the original cast members to say something nice about the movie. But that just came off as a "cheap hustle". The story and performances are not funny. This movie reeks of predictable action and dialogue, as well as a cast that are, simply put - just bad, without cohesiveness or chemistry. Our 4 kids, my wife and I really enjoyed the first 3 Wimpy Kid movies and we watch them over again, to this day. I don't think anyone could ever take the place of Zachary Gordon as Greg Heffley, even though a very weak attempt was tried. Gordon "was" Heffley and performed masterfully as the main character and kept true to the personality of Kinney's book series character. In the Wimpy Kid, Long Haul, the part of Rowley, which was so prominent in the first 3 movies and in Kinney's book series, has been completely downplayed to almost non-existence, with little screen time. Let's not even talk about the actor who they chose to play Rowley - what an amateur and not believable in any way. The actor who plays Rodrick came out of "left field" and is a farce in that he doesn't fit the character of Roderick both in physiology and performance. He doesn't match the characterization as written by Jeff Kinney. Devon Bostick (the original Rodrick) could surely have played the part since Hollywood uses 25-35 year-old's to play Jr. High and High School kids anyway. In addition, attempting to replace Rachel Harris and Steve Zahn with Barrymore and Tom-Everet makes it all an underwhelming, futile attempt at movie making. This is a movie that should never have been made. The original movies were fun and entertaining. Wimpy Kid, Long Haul is an empty attempt to make money as an "after-thought" and rip off the public because Fox was too stupid to make 6 back-to-back Wimpy movies, which they could have done, when they had the opportunity. Apparently, 20th Century Fox is not a pro-active or foresightful studio as, for example, Warner Brothers or Universal would have been. Ie: Warner Bros shot Harry Potter movies back to back. Fox could have easily made 6 Wimpy Kid series movies from the original cast long before they matured and everyone would have been happy. Don't waste your time or money on this poor attempt at resurrecting the Wimpy Kid movie world. If the studio had 1/2 a brain, they would have made this an Animation Film instead, which might have garnered some interest from the fans. Find something else to do with your own time or kids this weekend as sitting through the Wimpy Kid, Long Haul is just that - a boring long haul.

• National Lampoon for a younger audience

  amesmonde2017-05-31

  Greg Heffley (Jason Drucker) is looking forward to a long summer of just hanging out, but his mother forces the entire family to take a road trip for a relative's birthday celebration. Wimpy Kid veteran David Bowers directs a briskly paced family comedy in the vein of National Lampoon's (only a version for a younger audience). The cast include the familiar faces of actors Alicia Silverstone and Tom Everett Scott who are accompanied by some fresh faced new comers who play Wimpy Kid favourites Greg, Rodrick and Rowley. The players are forgivably not as settled into their roles quite yet but nonetheless are entertaining. Some editing aside Bowers offers a well made good looking film. Long Haul is a road trip where almost every outlandish gag is borrowed from another comedy but it's put together well enough to get pleasure from. It also amusingly touches on the over reliance of technology within a family. If your child is a fan of the Wimpy Kid series, they'll no doubt enjoy this one, it's entertaining and lowbrow enough to also appease the moodiest of teens and grumpiest adults.

• A 12 year old's perspective.

  ohc-280922017-07-20

  When I turned on the the TV to see an ad for the new diary of a wimpy kid film I felt like I could do 200 cartwheels.I love the DOAWK films and books and was so glad for a new one. But I ended up so annoyed at the end of the film. Also I should probably mention I saw the film around a month ago but this is what as a kid I think of this film. I tried so hard throughout the movie to like it. I wanted to like it. But I couldn't. The film is so poorly written it sounds like a skit from 2007 YouTube. Sorry to break this to you, but most kids over the age of 7 don't like lol random humour which doesn't make sense. OMG LOL HE COVERED IN CHEESE PUFFS XD. Instead of being lazy. Just make your actors look like humans. There vocabulary and voice acting is so bad they might as well be puppets that make sounds with you squeeze them. The acting is lazy and terrible. They act like there robots and are so unnatural it's creepy. I don't know what to say right now about anything else about this awful film apart from the extras. When they look into the camera it just cracks me up. And they lost 2mil from the and gained nothing. HAHAHA.

• WATCH the movie, you will be glad you did

  the_doofy2017-07-27

  I went into this w/ low expectations, given the reviews and the trailer. I came away with some decent laughs and an appreciation for a family comedy that spent a lot of time making some important points on modern American family life today. There is real moral to this movie, and it probably sets some viewers off. There is also enough original humor to make it a movie well worth watching. Having experienced a lot of long road trips, I could relate to a lot of the movie. The movie brings in original whimpy script in that it is not embracing the school environment or the social pressures of modern school kids in this country. INSTEAD it brings in a whole different conflict genre, the challenge of modern families being a family. I'm pretty sure the whole point to this movie has been missed by the naysayers. In summary, a very good modern comedy that is clean (for a change) and makes some powerful points about families in today's age of on line gaming addiction.

• Children only

  Alanjackd2017-06-11

  Firstly..I read reviews clearly written by adults...what on earth are you up to writing a review of a kids movie? It's not made for you so stay well alone! If you want to review movies , review a movie made for your own age and not a kids movie. The litmus test is how the audience re-acts. I have to say in my local theatre they loved it..that is the kids loved it...laughing all the way through at the gross and the funny..That's because it's MADE for them. I almost enjoyed it myself as I picked up on the fun from the atmosphere. Obviously it's not a Glenngarry or a Missing( if you don't know these movies then my point has been made about you watching kids movies)! I would hope that the adults will stay away from reviewing kids movies and stop giving it low scores...that is unfair. If kids reviewed grown up movies they would also give low scores..that too would be unfair. This is a chirpy and silly laughfest for kids and families ...lots of laughter and mayhem with a new cast.( how dare the actors grow up and not be able to play the roles...shocking)! Well worth a visit with the little ones !!