Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, starring Zachary Gordon and Steve Zahn

Last year's Diary of a Wimpy Kid count me completely off guard. It was a cute, inoffensive pre-teen comedy that I thought captured the utter stupidity of middle school exactly right. Who can abide any place that allows kids who haven't matured yet to battle socially with those who already have facial hair. It's just silly, and the adaptation of Jeff Kinney's popular novels was spot on. The sequel, titled Rodrick Rules, takes a different angle this time around. Greg(Zachary Gordon) is still a diminutive pipsqueak trying to survive the cruel school hallways, but the new year has also brought girls to his attention for the first time. And with girls come a whole slew of new ways to get embarrassed. It doesn't help that Greg's older brother, Rodrick(Devon Bostick), is looking to make sure he stays at the bottom rung of the social ladder.

The vast majority of the cast have returned(sadly no Chloe Moretz), especially Greg's awkward group of friends. The bulk of the big laughs come courtesy of his best buddy, Rowley(Robert Capron). Still a complete dork, and yet completely lovable and hilarious. His idiotic catchphrases(zoo-wee mama!!!) and overdone facial expressions are always a hoot. In the realm of cool supporting characters, Rowley ranks right up there with McLovin and Hit-Girl for me. Any chance we can get a movie with all three fighting crime or something? Steve Zahn and Rachael Harris return as Greg's parents, Frank and Susan, and they thankfully take on a whole new level of importance as mediators in the war between the brothers. Susan has taken to writing a newspaper column about...you guessed it...raising kids, so the boys' very public confrontations are a threat to her newfound success. She takes to bribing them into behaving, a tactic I wish my parents would've subscribed to.

The plan works, and the two bros bond, mostly over keeping their parents in the dark over all the bad deeds they've done, but when the secrets get out, the boys are back to hating eachother's guts.The film actually works best when dealing with the small, silly moments in Greg's life, and not with the sibling rivalry. A particularly plotline sees Greg convincing the entire school to pretend his friend Chirag doesn't exist, showing an influence Greg didn't have in the first movie. A failed attempt to become YouTube sensations by re-enacting K$sha's 'Tik Tok" is funnier than it has any right to be. It's the little stuff that works best, even if some of the broader comedy is pretty standard.

I miss some of the old stuff that was so memorable from the last film, like the infamous "Cheese Touch", but I appreciate the rhythm being established through two films, and the visual style is always a nice touch. The film shifts in and out between live-action and the pencil 'n paper drawings from Kinney's novels. Two adaptations in, and three books left to go, Diary of a Wimpy Kid has hopefully found an established niche in the sorely lacking teen comedy department.