Story
Greg (voice of Brady Noon) and Rowley (voice of Ethan William Childress) have been best friends forever. But as they embark on middle school, everything is set to change.
Greg is terrified by the stories about middle school that he has heard from his older brother, Roderick (voice of Hunter Dillon), and he’s also determined to do great things. So Greg’s attitude towards Rowley begins to change because he wants to be seen as cool. Rowley stays the same, however, and finds himself the ‘cool kid’ after a freak accident.
Greg’s plans to be recognised repeatedly backfire and he’s reduced to hanging out with Fregley (voice of Christian Convery), the weirdest kid in school. Just when Greg’s closest friendship seems to be lost forever, the simple act of helping a friend turns everything around.
Themes
Bullying; sibling rivalry; fickle friendships; peer pressure; high school popularity issues
Violence
Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2021) has some violence. For example:
- Rowley gets knocked off his bike while playing a risky ball game with Greg. They keep playing despite promising their parents that they won’t. They eventually stop playing when Rowley breaks his arm.
- Greg hits Rowley with his bike.
- Greg’s older brother describes the bullying that happens in middle school, much to the horror of his family.
- Children shove each other in the hallways between classes. Some students are deliberately knocked to the ground.
- One student trips another, grabs him by the ankles and drags him down the hall.
- A student is shoved in a locker and forcibly kept in there despite his repeated requests to go to the bathroom.
- Teenagers hit Greg and Rowley with water balloons and then chase them with their truck.
- Greg is smashed into a wall and later shoved to the ground.
- Greg is pushed down and punched in the face.
- Teenagers threaten Greg and Rowley and make Rowley eat a piece of rancid cheese that has been on the ground for ages.
Sexual references
There are no sexual references in Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2021).
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
There’s no use of substances in Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2021), although Fregley gets hyperactive after eating some chocolate.
Nudity and sexual activity
There’s no nudity and sexual activity in Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2021).
Product placement
There’s some product placement in Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2021). For example, Greg and Rowley play on a game console that clearly resembles Nintendo.
Coarse language
There’s some coarse language and name-calling in Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2021), including ‘shrimp’, ‘runt’, ‘weirdo’, ‘nerd’, ‘moron’, ‘jerk’ and ‘idiot’.
Ideas to discuss with your children
Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2021) is an animated movie based on the book by Jeff Kinney. Pre-teens will enjoy the movie’s simple animations and basic plot, but its violence and themes mean it isn’t a movie for younger children.
The main messages from Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2021) are that you just need one good friend but that you also need to be a good friend.
Values in Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2021) that you could reinforce with your children include friendship, helpfulness, empathy and courage.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2021) could also give you the chance to talk with your children about the real-life consequences of things like:
- behaving the way you think other people want you to behave instead of being true to yourself
- lying to your parents and encouraging others to lie to their parents
- making promises that you don’t intend to keep
- disregarding what you’ve been told to do and making dangerous decisions that affect others.