Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (film)

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules is a 2011 American live-action/animated comedy film[5] directed by David Bowers and based on Jeff Kinney's 2008 book of the same name. It stars Zachary Gordon and Devon Bostick. Robert Capron, Rachael Harris, Steve Zahn, and Peyton List also have prominent roles.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
Theatrical release poster
Directed byDavid Bowers
Produced byNina Jacobson
Brad Simpson
Screenplay byJeff Judah
Gabe Sachs
Based onDiary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
by Jeff Kinney
StarringZachary Gordon
Devon Bostick
Rachael Harris
Robert Capron
Steve Zahn
Music byEdward Shearmur
CinematographyJack N. Green
Edited byTroy Takaki
Production
company
Distributed by20th Century Fox[2]
Release date
Running time
100 minutes [3]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$21 million[3]
Box office$72.4 million[4]

The film was released on March 25, 2011, by 20th Century Fox. It received mixed reviews from critics and earned $72.4 million on a $21 million budget. It is the second installment in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid film series preceded by 2010's Diary of a Wimpy Kid and followed by 2012's Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days.

Plot

The Heffley family attends a back-to-school party at a roller rink, where Greg reunites with Rowley and meets a new girl named Holly Hills, who he instantly has a crush on. His older brother, Rodrick, interferes with the party by sabotaging his attempt to ask Holly to skate with him and tricking their mother, Susan, and father, Frank, into embarrassing him by talking to him on the rink's PA system and carrying him off the rink. He tries to tackle Rodrick for humiliating him, but ends up face-planting in Taylor Pringle's birthday cake. Enraged, she and her friends proceed to beat him up.

The next day, a school talent show, "Plainview's Most Talented", is advertised on TV, which Rowley sees as an opportunity to perform magic, and Rodrick sees it as his band's big break. Rodrick gives Rowley and Greg a drum lesson. Later in the afternoon, Greg berates Manny for stuffing a cookie in his Xbox and complains how Rodrick and Greg ruin his life. The next day, Greg tapes Rowley lip syncing to Kesha's Tik Tok before he ends up sitting on the tinfoil ball Manny made for Greg. At church, Greg and Rodrick are grounded after a scuffle, after which they are forbidden to go to a water park with Rowley's family over the weekend. Rodrick throws a party and locks Greg in the basement to keep him from ruining it.

Later in the evening, Rowley sleeps at Greg's house where they watch The Foot which scares both of them. Manny then comes in to dig through their candy when Greg and Rowley think he is the hopping foot from the movie. At school, Greg and Rowley joke about Chirag Gupta being invisible after he returns from a trip to India. Greg hands in Rodrick's "100 years ago" assignment which Mr. Draybick gives him an "F" on. He also gets into even more trouble when he tries to pass a note to Holly which ends up going to Patty Farrell instead. Later in the evening, Rodrick takes him to a gas station where they have hot dogs, slushies, and chips and they play pranks on people by putting fake vomit on their cars.

When Greg and Rodrick arrive home, Frank comes across photos of the party that Greg had taken with the camera, ruining the Heffley family's reputation once again as Susan's editors leave in disgust. Greg is grounded for two weeks without video games, and Rodrick is not allowed to drive anywhere except to and from school for a month and can't perform in the talent show, much to his devastation. He begs to get a different punishment, but Susan and Frank initially refuse. In anger, he states that while Greg may be his brother, he'll never see him as a friend, despite his attempts to explain and apologize. They are further punished by staying at their grandfather's retirement home, where Greg finds out that Holly is visiting her grandmother. To humiliate him, Rodrick steals his journal, in which he has written about his crush on her, and threatens to give it to her. He, in his underwear, chases after Rodrick and steals it back, but inadvertently hides in the women's restroom; Rodrick tapes the whole incident on the security camera.

At the talent show a few nights later, Rodrick finds out that he has been booted from the band by Bill Walter, a guitarist who recently joined; and Rowley isn't able to perform his magic tricks due to his partner, Scotty Douglas, having stage fright. Greg has a change of heart and help Rowley and Rodrick by participating in Rowley's magic act in return for allowing Rodrick to perform his band act. The magic act is praised by Holly and the crowd, but people are unimpressed by Rodrick's band act until Susan starts dancing weird at the edge of the stage. Then the crowd joins in. Frank tapes the entire footage of Susan dancing, agreeing to Greg to keep it a secret. Rodrick boots Bill from the band, and gives Greg the tape from the retirement home as forgiveness in return for making it possible for him to participate.

Cast

Production

Brad Simpson stated he anticipated a sequel movie if the first film is a success. "Our writing staff are writing a sequel right now, "Rodrick Rules," which would be based on the second book"..."And, you know, we hope that the people to see a second movie, so that we are in position of going again right away and making another film. I certainly know that the fans would like to see all the books made into movies." Fox 2000 greenlit the sequel and Zachary Gordon returned as Greg Heffley. Steve Zahn (Frank Heffley) and Rachael Harris (Susan Heffley) also returned. The film was directed by David Bowers and the screenplay was written by Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah. Principal photography began in Vancouver August 2010. A few new characters appeared in the film, including Peyton List as Holly Hills. The trailer was seen with Gulliver's Travels. The website created for the first was updated for the sequel featuring pictures of the cast and a short synopsis of the film. The film was released on March 25, 2011. Talks of a sequel were announced after the release of the first, but was not officially announced until May 12, 2010, announcing that it would be released March 25, 2011.[6] Filming took place in Vancouver, British Columbia and New Westminster, British Columbia from August 23 to October 27, 2010.[7] The mall scene was filmed at Park Royal Mall in West Vancouver.[8] The roller rink scene was filmed at the PNE Agrodome, due to Vancouver lacking a real roller rink. Director Thor Freudenthal was replaced by director David Bowers (director of Flushed Away and Astro Boy).

Distribution

The trailer was shown with Gulliver's Travels on December 25, 2010. It was later online on January 3, 2011. A poster was released there after on January 14, 2011. In February 2011, an exclusive online-only trailer was released on the "Wimpy Kid Movie" YouTube channel, officialwimpmovie. Due to the success of the first film in Singapore, the film was released there eight days before the US release on March 17, 2011. The film was released in Brazil on September 16, 2011.[9] A TV spot of the movie was released in March 2011.

Home media

The film was released on a stand-alone DVD, a special edition double DVD pack, and a Blu-ray/DVD/digital copy combo pack on June 21, 2011. One of the bonus shorts was shown during iParty with Victorious on Nickelodeon at 8:00 PM on June 11, 2011.

Reception

Box office

The film made $7.3 million on its opening day, ranking #2 behind Sucker Punch. It managed to rank #1 in the weekend box office.[10] In the UK, it debuted at #3 in the weekend box office behind Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and The Hangover Part II. The film eventually grossed $52,698,535 in the US/Canada and $19,718,859 in other countries for a worldwide total of $72,417,394.

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 47% based on 98 reviews and an average rating of 5.3/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Moderately witty and acceptably acted, Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2 isn't much worse than the first installment."[11] On Metacritic, it has a score of 51 out of 100 based on 23 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[12] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave tit an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.[13]

Robert Abele of the Los Angeles Times gave the film a positive review saying, "Director David Bowers keeps things peppy and brightly lighted, but the movie's swiftest pleasures come from moment-seizing cast members." Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it a positive review saying, "A little less wimpy, gives value lessons to the watchers from the cast, and still pretty funny" and a B rating. Pete Hammond of Boxoffice magazine gave it a mixed review stating "Even better than the first edition, in its own sitcom-ish ways." However, Michael O'Sullivan of The Washington Post gave it a negative review, stating "You can't fault the filmmakers for reshaping a diary into a cohesive film. You can however, fault them for taking one of the great antiheroes in preteen literature and turning him into, well, an even wimpier kid."[14]

Accolades
YearAwardCategoryRecipientResultRef.
2012 Young Artist AwardBest Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young ActorZachary GordonNominated[15]
Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young ActorKaran BrarNominated
Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young ActorRobert CapronNominated
Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young ActressLaine MacNeilWon
Best Performance in a Feature Film - Young Actor Ten and UnderConnor & Owen FieldingNominated
Best Performance in a Feature Film - Young Actress Ten and UnderDalila BelaNominated

References
  1. "Diary of a Wimpy Kid Rodrick Rules (2011)". British Film Institute. Retrieved March 31, 2017.
  2. "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved July 23, 2017.
  3. "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. Retrieved March 24, 2011.
  4. "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (2011)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 13, 2013.
  5. "Diary of a Wimpy Kid Rodrick Rules (2011)". BFI. Retrieved March 31, 2017.
  6. 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' Sequel to Bow Next March Archived March 25, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. Moviefone.com. Retrieved January 15, 2011.
  7. "BCFC Film List" (PDF). British Columbia Film Commission. October 2, 2011. Archived from the original on October 2, 2011. Retrieved October 2, 2011.
  8. "Movies Filmed at Park Royal Shopping Centre". MovieMaps. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
  9. "'Wimps rule, movie opens 8 days ahead of US".. StraitsTimes.com. Retrieved March 16, 2011.
  10. "Weekend Report: 'Wimpy Kid' Blindsides 'Sucker Punch'". Retrieved March 28, 2011.
  11. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules at Rotten Tomatoes
  12. "Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2 Reviews".
  13. "CinemaScore". cinemascore.com. Archived from the original on September 16, 2017.
  14. O'Sullivan, Michael. "Latest 'Wimpy Kid' too cute, insincere". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
  15. "33rd Annual Young Artist Awards". YoungArtistAwards.org. Archived from the original on April 4, 2012. Retrieved March 31, 2012.
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