Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules

They just keep making these, eh? Not good when one is somewhat of a completionist when it comes to franchises.

'Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules' is at least a minor improvement on the original animated flick from a year prior. The run time is nice and short so doesn't really overly stay its welcome, naturally (given I'm obviously not the target audience etc.) it was a bit boring throughtout for me. I can still acknowledge it's a relatively OK film, though.

The voice cast aren't anything worth shouting from the rooftops about, perhaps with the exception of a certain Ed Asner. It shows how the live-action films from this series actually did do a good job with its casting, because I still always associate the characters here to Zachary Gordon & Co. - despite only seeing those movies once or twice.

I'm split on the animation style. On the one hand it looks dull, yet kinda still works. I remember the 2021 release had some overt continuity issues onscreen, as well as a few audio problems. This one doesn't, at least none of which I noticed, so that's a plus point, I guess!

From the start to the 1 hr and 17 minute climax I absolutely wanted to die during this abhorrent movie. It is a disgrace to basic human decency and I would have rather binge watched both of the tall girl movies thrice in a row. To be frank, I did did not only despise this movie, I felt repulsed at my own inability to stop watching this car crash of a production. From the unreasonably poor attempts at juvenile humour to the laughable attempts at emotional relatability, it stunned me in its shear lack of quality. I can not believe that a 'creative' team was payed real money to produce this absolute trash.

I sincerely recommend that anyone and everyone avoids this movie at all costs.

However, it was still better than the long haul.

Honestly, it's not as bad as the first animated Diary Of A Wimpy Kid movie. The jokes weren't that funny and the animation was dull, but the ending was pretty cool. Greg and Rodrick were more likable in this movie than the live-action ones which is ok but it kinda takes away from the characters. This movie was the definition of mediocre and lazy. I still think you should watch it because it's pretty short. It's very fast-paced but I think that's fine because most of the scenes are boring. At Least The movie wasn't unwatchable unlike Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul.

Also, Manny is still a menace!

I really was hoping for an upgrade after last year's animated Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie came out. These had big shoes to fill because they will be compared to the original non-animated trilogy of films. But much like the first animated film, I was disappointed. The animation still lacked and the scenes didn't connect very well. It felt very drawn out, more than it needed to and the scenes were just boring. I suppose the voice acting was a little better. But there wasn't much of a chance for a phenomenal performance. I feel like the idea has potential but they really need to fix a lot if they plan to continue this animated movie series.

Overall, 5/10.

Another movie in one year just like with the live-action trilogy, and this one? Yeah, I liked the live-action movie better. Like the first film, the animated version of Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules is entirely mixed as a movie. I'll give the movie does have a decent heart and the jokes are fine. However, there are also times where the movie does feel little doing something new from the book it was based on. Also, the characters do have good development, but some of them do seem despicable in a dull way. And the animation is fine, but often seems dated. Since the movie has now a proper full-length running time, I won't say to treat this as one of those specials. But all I can say is if you're not a fan of the first animated film, this is not for you. However if you want to see what the creator of the book himself does in movies even as a fan of the book series, then watch this at least once just to compare this to the book. The one thing I'll say is I was wrong about all these movies coming out every year. Because I read an article that the third movie is already on the works, but never mentioned it was going to release next year. You can tell Jeff Kinney is trying with the franchise, even in this and the first movie. Sure some may argue this and the first were faithful to the live action films, but at least he was trying to add some difference inspired from the book. Oh and by the way...Rest In Peace, Ed Asner.