Unlike the first movie based on writer Jeff Kinney's children's book series, where oddball characters and incidents just kept coming at and coming at the viewer, RODRICK RULES director David Bowers wisely keeps all the padding necessary to fill up printed pages to the periphery so the movie's focus may shine where it belongs: on the inner workings of the Heffley family. After all, the film runs less than 99 minutes--a considerably briefer period than that most readers would need to devote to the book. Therefore, such DWKI notables as Fregley (Grayson Russell) and Chirag (Karan Brar) barely make cameo appearances here. While the first film's running joke about the ancient cheese sandwich is alluded to twice in the sequel, nothing so silly takes up as much time here (the closest thing is Greg's "poopy" church pants bit, this movie's weakest moment).
True, Greg's best buddy, Rowley Jefferson (Robert Capron), graces the sequel throughout, but the filmmakers do not contort themselves to create such an artificial gulf of distrust between the pair as they did in the initial offering, which made Greg (Zachary Gordon) much jerkier than need be. While a new girl in town is added for the boys' advancement to seventh grade (a blonde, of course--Holly Hills, played by Peyton List, who is Greg's, rather than Rowley's crush, of course), the interactions between the pair are kept appropriately believable and subordinate to the important things in Greg's life, a refreshing breather from Hollywood's usual precocious mating dances.
The single most important thing in this movie is Greg's relationship with his older brother, the eponymous Rodrick (Devon Bostick). While events may wobble toward implausibility from time to time, the final resolution seems upbeat and somewhat credible. The main secondary consideration here is both brothers' struggle to attain the ideal of truthfulness their mother Susan (Rachael Harris) sets out for them. In this movie, Susan is more rounded than before, depicted as a regular family columnist for the Westmore Daily Bugle newspaper. However, the boy's dad--Civil War buff Frank (Steve Zahn) remains more or less a nonentity.
True, Greg's best buddy, Rowley Jefferson (Robert Capron), graces the sequel throughout, but the filmmakers do not contort themselves to create such an artificial gulf of distrust between the pair as they did in the initial offering, which made Greg (Zachary Gordon) much jerkier than need be. While a new girl in town is added for the boys' advancement to seventh grade (a blonde, of course--Holly Hills, played by Peyton List, who is Greg's, rather than Rowley's crush, of course), the interactions between the pair are kept appropriately believable and subordinate to the important things in Greg's life, a refreshing breather from Hollywood's usual precocious mating dances.
The single most important thing in this movie is Greg's relationship with his older brother, the eponymous Rodrick (Devon Bostick). While events may wobble toward implausibility from time to time, the final resolution seems upbeat and somewhat credible. The main secondary consideration here is both brothers' struggle to attain the ideal of truthfulness their mother Susan (Rachael Harris) sets out for them. In this movie, Susan is more rounded than before, depicted as a regular family columnist for the Westmore Daily Bugle newspaper. However, the boy's dad--Civil War buff Frank (Steve Zahn) remains more or less a nonentity.