Wimpy Kid Movie Diary – book review

Jeff Kinney has written a behind-the-scenes look at the Wimpy Kid Movie that’s just as entertaining as his bestselling book series. Not only does it capture the same humor and charm of Greg Heffley’s diaries, but it also provides a lot of insider information about how movies get made (and, of course, how this movie in particular was made). I was pretty amazed by how much work goes into movie production, how many people are involved, and the attention to detail that’s paid to creating scripts, scenery, etc. It’s not at all surprising to discover that this movie was 2 years in the making! Fans of the Wimpy Kid books (and movie) will love this Movie Diary, but those with an interest in movie-making will find a wealth of information as well. I learned a lot about movies that I didn’t know before! Highly recommended! Things you might not know: • Wimpy kid actors got together off-set to get to know one another better so that they’d be more comfortable and more natural in the movie! • Screen tests were made to see whether the actors who played Greg and Rowley had “chemistry” on screen! • They had to recreate entire rooms and scenes on a sound stage when the weather got bad and in cases where they didn’t have enough footage of a particular scene that they’d filmed on-site. • Whole bedrooms and lives and background details were created for characters – to make their environments and characters seem as realistic as possible! • For onsite locations, they often repainted, redecorated and moved all of the people and their possessions out!

Reviewed by YA Librarian