Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (2012)
Average Rating: 5.4/10
Reviews Counted: 70
Fresh: 35 | Rotten: 35
Overly familiar and a bit too reliant on slapstick, the sitcom-like Dog Days fails to improve upon previous installments and will likely appeal to few outside its target audience.
Average Rating: 5.4/10
Critic Reviews: 21
Fresh: 10 | Rotten: 11
Overly familiar and a bit too reliant on slapstick, the sitcom-like Dog Days fails to improve upon previous installments and will likely appeal to few outside its target audience.
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Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 50,427
My Rating
Movie Info
During his summer vacation, "Wimpy Kid" Greg Heffley, the hero of the phenomenally successful book series, hatches a plan to pretend he has a job at a ritzy country club - which fails to keep him away from the season's dog days, including embarrassing mishaps at a public pool and a camping trip that goes horribly wrong. -- (C) 20th Century Fox
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Cast
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Zachary Gordon
Greg Heffley -
Devon Bostick
Rodrick Heffley -
Rachael Harris
Susan Heffley -
Robert Capron
Rowley Jefferson -
Steve Zahn
Frank Heffley
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All Critics (70) | Top Critics (21) | Fresh (35) | Rotten (35) | DVD (1)
Viewers enduring early adolescence or those grappling with its psychic scars will recognize the honesty in the comic humiliation.
Top CriticThough often self-centered and conniving, Greg remains a likable kid, and the movie entertains by pulling off over-the-top scenarios that set up digestible life lessons for youngsters.
Released right when summer starts to drag, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days at least doesn't add to the exhaustion.
Old-fashioned and small in scale, the movies sometimes feel like after-school specials from a bygone era, which is part of what makes them so endearing.
I'd call "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days" harmless if it weren't for some totally unnecessary gay-panic jokes that could actually encourage bullying.
Spending time with Kinney's characters has become an annual treat.
With "Dog Days" and its been-there, done-that screenplay, the franchise takes a step backward.
With their recurring characters and suburban Anytown USA setting, these films represent a throwback to the assembly-line days of 'Andy Hardy' and 'Blondie' movies: They lack surprise but not laughs.
More efforts not to be wimpy.
Dog Days doesn't have the emotional pull of the last installment in the franchise, but it's still a vast improvement over the irritating series opener.
This third adventure holds up nicely with its breezy comic energy and kid-friendly messages about respecting people you allegedly care about.
Learn from your mistakes is the theme of this endearing third film in the franchise in which the awkward, tumultuous highs and lows of pubescence continue
Greg isn't just wimpy, but manipulative and selfish, and no amount of after-school-special lessons and father-son bonding in the final 10 minutes is enough to overcome that.
Sure, your kids will think it's funny. But if they've seen many movies, they're going to know they're looking at lowbrow jokes that are cheap and easily written - the kind of stuff kids tell each other in the halls at school.
With a further 3 novels yet to receive cinematic treatment, let's hope the youngsters can keep puberty at bay as judging by the quality on offer here, there's potential for many more enjoyable entries in the diary yet.
The acting may be cartoony and the action sketchy, but the film's breezy good-humour - personified by Robert Capron's kindly, loyal Rowley - makes it easy to like.
Mums and dads will know how Zahn feels when he threatens to rip all of the leads out of the back of the TV set.
A fairly entertaining movie for the younger kids but for all else not so funny.
An obvious improvement over 2010's subpar Diary of a Wimpy Kid...
Wimpy Kid doesn't need to use seizure-inducing, bright, shiny tricks to distract you from the thin plot, like disco dance floors and rats being hurled off of cruise ships in 3D.
It's Tom Sawyer for the age of video games, a scrappy, anecdotal affair...
A comfy, feelgood comedy that's fun for the whole family!
Though this one is better than the first two, this is now my least favorite trilogy.
Formulaic, family-friendy sequel, as Greg's angst takes a more adolescent turn.
If you're over the age of 12, chances are you're already too old for these movies.
If you're a ten-year-old boy (or have a ten-year-old boy's sense of humor), you should like this. And I'm nothing if not a big, fat, hairy ten-year-old boy.
Audience Reviews for Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Greg Heffley: Wait a minute, this isn't camping.
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- Frank Heffley: You're a phoney, you're a fake!
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- Rowley Jefferson: I've never actually played tennis before...
- Greg Heffley: We've played Ultimate Tennis on the Wii. It's basically the same thing.
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- Rodrick Heffley: Loaded diaper, activate.
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- Frank Heffley: A man who never made mistakes never made anything.
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- Frank Heffley: You got a job!
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Foreign Titles
- Gregs Tagebuch 3 - Ich war's nicht (DE)
- Journal d'un Dégonflé : ça fait suer ! (FR)
Good movie! This film is the third film in this popular series and is based on the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, which are written by Jeff Kinney. The entire movie flowed well, no moments felt dry, and that can be a big problem with some movies today. Overall, Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, is a great, fun, enjoyable film for the family. I can't wait to see what the studio is going to do next!
School is out and Greg is ready for the days of summer, when all his plans go wrong. What on earth is he going to do all summer?