Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The Last Straw’ Movie: The animated remakes cannot top the originals  

Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The Last Straw, is the third animated film based off the New York Times bestselling book, Diary of a Wimpy Kid.  

Greg and his dad are complete opposites of each other. Frank is responsible and values hard work, while Greg is a lazy kid who takes the easy way out. After a long string of bad decisions, Frank loses his patience and threatens to send Greg off to a strict military camp for the next four years. As the new year comes, Greg has a decision to make, change his lazy and irresponsible ways or face the consequences. But in a Greg-like fashion, he tries taking the easy way out by lying about his achievements to his father. 

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw is centered around the middle schooler Greg Heffley and his irresponsible behavior. This movie teaches viewers the downsides of taking the easy route. It is targeted towards younger kids, but with its clear animations, well-cast voice acting and strong message about responsibility, this movie is good for both kids and families.    

The movie is filmed using a 3D animation that very much resembles the original illustrations drawn by Jeff Kinney. Exaggerated facial and body movements makes the viewer feel like the characters have come to life. 

Throughout the story Greg learns how his actions can drive his friends and family away. When Greg and his best friend Rowley create their snow removal business, Greg’s lazy and disrespectful ways shine.  

He tells Rowley, “I’m management,” and continues by telling Rowley that he’s “Labour, Different levels.” 

Greg refused to do any of the work which ended up driving Rowley away. On top of that, when his dad finds out that Greg was lying about all his achievements, he is livid. One of the badges that Greg had to obtain was the physical fitness badge. To earn this, Greg decided to join his neighbor Chirag’s soccer team. Greg was never put into the game until Chirag got hurt in goal and had to sit out. Greg was put into net and had to save a penalty kick by Patty who is Greg’s enemy. Greg failed to save the goal, which caused the team to lose. After the loss the truth finally came out, exposing all the dishonest and neglectful things he has been hiding.  

The best element of this movie is the clear theme. The whole movie revolves around Greg’s unmotivated ways while his father tries to correct them through teaching responsibility and maturity yet still becoming your own person.  

Although the theme was clear it was so straightforward and quickly established as to feel undeveloped through the main action of the movie. After Greg’s poor choices when it came to the snow shoveling business, the whole film revolves around the Boy Scouts where the basic elements of Greg’s laziness and avoidance of responsibility are merely repeated ad nauseum. 

When comparing the animated film to the first three live action ones, I would easily choose the live action. In the live action films, the actors for Greg, Rowley and Rodrick were perfect. They brought a humor aspect, but also an emotional aspect at times. The Last Straw lacked the humor and emotion of both the live action film and the books.  

The Last Straw is only 78 minutes and feels sort of rushed. Instead of showing Greg earning all the badges for the Boy Scouts, a short montage of his dad signing off on them was played. They could have easily extended the movie by showing Greg working for more badges. On top of that, the ending felt very abrupt. Within the last ten minutes of the movie, Frank goes from angry at Greg, to then friendly with him and then proud after his smart actions that saved the camping group      

One key factor that made the books so engaging was the relationship between Greg and Rowley. In the movie, Greg and Rowley’s relationship is not as prominent as normal. In the books, the focus is the relationship between Greg and Rowley and the adventures that they go on, yet in this movie it felt that the focus was between Greg and Frank while Rowley was more of a side character. 

It’s hard to enjoy this movie after having such high expectations. The theme may have been clear but in no way was it strong. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw fell short of topping the live action movies from the early 2010s.   

Cover Image: Screenshot by Blake Allen