Question: Write a two page critique / reaction of the movie. Justify your reactions to the movie characters, what you liked or didn’t like about the movie…
This movie is about an 11 year old boy named Greg Heffley who has just entered middle school which he thinks is ridiculous and absolutely the dumbest idea ever invented. He, by some means has a great confidence that he will be popular at school, and he even has an idea of getting rid of his immature best friend, Rowley Jefferson so that no one can get on his way to recognition but later Rowley became more popular than Greg could ever imagined. To Greg, his friends are all bad influence to his way to become famous; “I’ll be famous one day, but now I’m stuck in middle school with a bunch of morons”. This age is the fourth stage of Erik Erikson Stages of Development in which a child is having social stage of development and if there are any unresolved feelings, it might lead to self-esteem and social problem in the child. This is where parents are no longer the single authority as school and friends will begin to take their place in one’s life. Being one of the smallest boys in his grade, Greg knows that he has to work hard on his way to the top so he tried the wrestling club as well as the Safety Patrol, in order to look for his absolute identity. Well, Greg has to be given credit for his confidence level and never give up attitude which can be considered fairly tough for boy his age. Even though he is small and unpopular, he does not seem to want to belong to the unpopular group; he wants to be significant and noticed by his peers. It is funny when everything he tried not just failed but actually put someone else in limelight; his dorky best friend, Rowley. What makes things even funnier is that Rowley maintains straight face through out all the dumb things he said and done. Rowley’s character actually has as much effect as Greg in this movie because audience loves his cute and immature nature. However, audience hates to see the way Rowley was treated earlier in the movie because nothing he does would make his best friend appreciate his effort. The characters of Patty and Angie also help to show how Greg’s character improved in the movie. Greg had tried to deny Angie’s presence by ignoring whatever she tried to tell but he cannot stop Patty from keep coming into his life to pay her childhood vengeance. Somehow, no matter how selfish Greg might seems to be, audience cannot seems to avoid feeling pity and sorry for him. The more effort that he put to get the spotlight, the more misfortunate he looks especially with his small body size and too good to be true wishful thinking.
In this movie, I cannot help but to dislike the movie because just like the character Adrian Mole created by Sue Townsend, both Adrian and Greg resemble the same hierarchy hiking, school society survival and so forth that make them no different from any other child in the whole world. No one wants to be categorized as freak or weirdo at school but there are some of these children are unfortunate enough that they need to put so much effort just to step up the ladder to get off the floor. Greg, Rowley, Chirag, and Pregley are just few examples of the real world that children and teenagers today have to undergo in order to survive school. The reality is that someone selfish like Greg will take advantage to someone like Rowley to survive but in the end they will resolve their issue together. Human learn through experience and they need to go through a lot experiences for them to learn how to deal and finally become a more mature person. That is what Greg and Rowley went through at their middle school. Nevertheless, I adore the determination that Greg has in him to make himself more visible in a positive way. He did put a lot of effort in strategizing his way to be famous and that makes his diary worth to be adapted into a movie.
Would I recommend the movie to the others to watch? Well, I guess I will recommend it to those whom I know would appreciate the morality issues centered in the movie. Living in a fast moving forward and violent world, people tend to prefer Transformers or Iron Man over a ‘child trying to survive school’ type of movie. Regardless of that, for me, what is worth to be looked at in this movie is the author’s purpose or what he wants the audience to see which is despite of the fact that human is born equal but the others had made it clear that there is no such thing as equal any more. Equality needs to be earned or else you will always be less than the others in this cruel world. Rodrick might seems a little bit harsh and tough on Greg but that is the best way to get Greg ready for the real world where everyone will be harsh and tough on you. He also had told Greg to keep his presence invisible so that he will not be picked on by the others. But Greg refused the idea because he is confident that he needs the fame to survive school no matter what it takes to get it.
Along the story, the author and the director put variety of mood, swinging from one to the next. Started off with funny beginning as Greg was tricked by his brother and then the author evokes the feeling of sympathy towards the “different and does not belong” children at the school; Greg and his friends. What makes the movie inevitably funny is that the situation is never on Greg’s side and there are a lot of surprises on which side then the luck will be, once it happens to be Rowley’s and once it had been Patty’s. Sometimes, it looks like the luck is playing on him and that is why he never get lucky at school. The audience at last able to forgive Greg as his character had developed to show maturity and improvement towards others. The setting of this movie is in some way repetitive as it only evolves around home, school and backyard of anyone’s house which is quite boring. This story can be watched just for one time but for the second time it would become excessively dreary. The ending is too predictable, with the Cheese Touch and the boys become friends once again and there is no part that can really be said as unforgettable part. If this movie is to be watched on the weekend with family on movie night at home, it can be a good to laugh movie but to recommend it to others to watch, I think something different can be selected. At least from here we can conclude that Harry Potter, LOTR, fairy tales Disney cartoons, and even Tom and Jerry stand in their own place, certainly not inclusive of this movie perhaps because those movies are fantasy movies, not a real life one.
The funny transition of Greg from childhood to young adolescence life had by some means been delivered delicately and effectively as that is somehow pretty much true for most young boys. The truth about life is that it will never be easy on anyone. Human needs to learn the hard way to gain experience if they want to gain it effectively, there is no easy way. Driven just by his determination to be on the school yearbook, Greg got to gain a lot of experience that if he never put the aim to be famous, he would had any chance to go through that.
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