Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days Review
Summertime is finally here, and Greg Heffley is ready. His summer plan is to play video games and eat junk food all day and everyday; however his parents have a different plan. They want him to play outside, join the Wilderness Scouts, and the young reader’s book club. Since Greg’s original plan didn’t work, he comes up with another idea to avoid his parent’s quest. Greg decides to accompany his best friend, Rowley, and hang out at Rowley’s country club pool everyday; however in order to do that, Greg lies to his parents and tells them he’s working at the pool. Now the adventure begins as Greg and Rowley start their summer escapades; some good, some bad. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days is the third adaptation of the best-selling Diary of a Wimpy Kid graphic novels.
Rating: 5 out of 5 buckets
Release Date: December 18, 2012
MPAA Rating: PG
Best Age Group: 7+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent Content: Mild
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drugs and Alcohol Content: None
Will Kids Like It? Yes
See a clip of my review here, along with Total Recall!
Talking Points:
While Greg often thinks his parents are too old fashioned, Greg’s parents (Susan and Frank) are truly caring loving parents, only wanting the best for their children.
There are some great father-son moments. Greg’s father (Frank) tries to connect more with his son. They bond over a comic strip, they both dislike. When Frank finds out about Greg’s lie, they have a heartfelt talk. Frank quotes his grandpa; “The man who never made a mistake has never made anything. The trick is to learn from your mistakes.” This could spark a good parent-child discussion.
When Rowley breaks a promise to his parents, he’s sad when his parents are disappointed in him.
Greg lies several times to his parents, he and Rodrick sneak into the country club several times, and order smoothies, not knowing that they were charged to Rowley’s dad. Another good parent-child discussion of what NOT to do.
There is a lot of potty humor; boogers, peeing in the pool and dirty diapers are some examples.
Rodrick fakes a drowning while trying to get a cute lifeguard’s attention. Not a good thing for kids to see.
Sexual Content: Mild
- Teenage girls are shown in their bikinis.
- Greg finds a pair of girl’s shorts with the word “Princess” embroidered on the back. He wears the shorts because he lost his bathing suit in the pool while attempting to dive off the high dive.
Violent Content: Mild
- While playing tennis, Rowley gets forcefully hit in the crotch and Greg gets hit all over. Greg also falls over the net and crashes to the ground.
- One character runs over Rodrick’s toe with a car tire.
- Greg causes a camp leader to trip, fall and set his tent on fire.
- Rodrick accidentally ruins a girls 16th birthday party; he smashes into an ice sculpture, and destroys her chocolate fountain.
- While camping, a boy tells a scary story; this may scare young kids.
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
- Name calling; words such as, “loser,” “jerk” and “wimp,” are used.
Drugs and Alcohol Content: None
Will Kids Like It? Yes
Diary of a Wimpy Kid fans will enjoy this movie. Even though the young character’s in the film don’t always make the best choices, they eventually learn their lesson! Parents need to be aware of the potty humor, pranks and the misbehaving kids in the film. I recommend this for kids ages 7 and up.
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