Well, I promised Greg that he’d be back, and I delivered!
So, in case you haven’t checked my post reviewing the animated film adaptation of Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, I stated in that post that I decided to write a series of posts covering each of the sequels to the first animated Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie after reviewing that film. Of course, with Rodrick Rules out of the way, that brings us to my review of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid Christmas: Cabin Fever movie, which adapts Cabin Fever, the sixth book in the series. While it’s weird to see them skip a few books for the sake of celebrating the holiday season, reviewing this movie is going to be interesting as it’s not only the first film in the series not rebooting a live-action film, but it’s also adapting a book I previously tried imagining an animated adaptation for before the first animated film was even released.
So, I’m going to try something interesting: I’m not just going to compare this film with the book, but this film with my concept trailer, in order to really see the difference between fan expectations and the final product. So, I don’t know about you, but it’s time to get ready for the wimpiest Christmas ever!
Development
As I already covered a lot of the film’s development in my post about my concept trailer for an animated Cabin Fever film adaptation, I will keep this section a bit more brief than usual. You may already be aware of that animated adaption of Cabin Fever that originally began production in December 2012, being intended to serve as a holiday television special for Fox. In August 2013, Kinney disclosed it would be a half-hour and would air on Fox sometime in 2014. As far as length goes, a half-hour is almost certainly too short to properly adapt any Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, especially one as good as Cabin Fever. However, the special remained in development for the rest of the 2010s, and it was ultimately never released.
In December 2022, during the press junket for the animated Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules film, Kinney confirmed that an animated film adaptation of The Last Straw was in the works. However, by January 2023, a casting call for the roles of Greg and Rowley was listed for a film under the title of “Diary of a Wimpy Kid Christmas: Cabin Fever”. This was due to Disney+ requesting that Kinney make a Christmas movie, and it was therefore put into production first.
By September 2023, the film was formally announced with a first look image of Greg and Rowley, alongside the reveal of the logo. John Paesano was also announced to compose the film’s score, after doing so for the previous two films. The teaser poster arrived by October, with a full trailer officially releasing in November after being shown exclusively on the tour for No Brainer beforehand. The Disney tie-in edition of the original Cabin Fever book was released later that month. The film’s release was accompanied by Paesano’s soundtrack. But how was the movie, anyway?
It’s Not a Diary, It’s a Pretty Decent Movie (Even If the Book Was Better)
Just like I did for The Grinch, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween and the first two films, I’m only going to give minor spoilers of the movie, as I mainly want to discuss the things about the film that worked and didn’t work, particularly the differences between the film and the original book. But I also want to try something interesting: to compare the differences between the film and my Cabin Fever concept trailer, as it could really put into perspective the expectations of fans of myself compared to what we actually got. Now that this is the first movie in the animated film series not remaking a live-action film, it would naturally lead fans to be curious as to how capable the film series was at adapting a book that hadn’t been adapted before, especially the book that I consider to be the best in the series. The film begins with Disney celebrating 100 years of obnoxiously pointing out they own everything 2D animations of the books’ illustrations, which is pretty clearly an established staple of the animated film series at this point, though Greg’s light blue diary is actually not as bright as I expected it to be, and it’s definitely not as bright as it is in my concept trailer. The first thing I noticed was that Wesley Kimmel’s voice is already slightly deeper compared to Brady Noon’s, though the difference isn’t jarring enough to be an issue.
In the book, Greg doesn’t ask for anything specific for Christmas, but in the film, he is after a new video game console. This change isn’t too bad at face value, but it ended up hurting the movie in a small yet significant way I didn’t anticipate, which I’ll get into later. Susan introduces the family to Santa’s Scout, though he is named “Elfrendo”, which is a combination of “elf” and “Alfrendo”, Greg’s childhood doll. Of course, this means that Alfrendo was removed from the movie entirely, which by itself isn’t the most disappointing thing, but considering that I linked the relationship between Greg and Alfrendo to the relationship between Greg and Manny in my concept trailer, it was already not a great sign that this would be a phenomenal adaptation. “Elfrendo” also has more scenes in the movie than I expected, but that’s more of a nitpick than anything.
Spencer Howell’s voice is actually not that different compared to Ethan William Childress’s. To remain on Santa’s nice list, Greg gets Rowley to build a snowman with him, which appears to loosely adapt the scene when Susan tells Greg to spend time with a “real person” instead of playing Net Kritters. However, they create a snowball that is so large it rips up the lawn, which clearly adapts the scene in the original book in which Greg tries to make the world’s biggest snowman with Rowley, which of course was featured in the brief moments of animation we got with the original announcement of the first animated movie. While it’s great to see that scene finally get adapted (kind of), what happens next completely changes the reason Greg and Rowley get into trouble: they accidentally knock their large snowball down the street, which damages the blade of a snowplow.
In the book, Greg and Rowley put up signs for their Holiday Bazaar, which then bleed onto the walls of the school after it starts raining. The Holiday Bazaar subplot doesn’t even appear in the movie, which is a devastating omission that would have given the film so much more depth. Obviously, I did depict the Holiday Bazaar subplot in my concept trailer, down to the moment in which Greg accidentally vandalizes the school wall because I was aware of how important that scene was. And by the way, none of the other scenes involving the school are seen in the film, which is weird considering that this is a film adapting a book series about middle school. Fregley returns in a scene in which he asks Greg to “finish building” him, which is adapted from The Meltdown. But Fregley also appears in the Cabin Fever book during a school scene, which is another good reason for depicting any school scenes even if none of them were the Holiday Bazaar subplot. This also would’ve placed the scene in which Greg and Rowley get into trouble later like in the book.
“Wanted” posters of Greg and Rowley with their distorted faces are posted everywhere, similarly to the book. Unlike the book, in which Vice Principal Roy tells the police about what Greg did to the school walls, the police are actively searching for who was responsible for the destruction of the snowplow. Dare I say it, but this might actually be better than the book, as Greg trying to keep the cops from identifying him presents slightly bigger stakes than simply trying to keep the cops away from him. Then the snowstorm comes, in which Frank is snowed in with the rest of the family, unlike the book in which he stays in a hotel, which isn’t that crazy a change. However, the entire neighborhood gets hit by the power cut, whereas only Greg’s house is affected in the book due to Manny turning off all the switches on the fuse box except for his room. This is, of course, much better, as it makes Manny more of the antagonist that he was in the book.
Greg finds that he did get his game console, which motivates him to help out his family. While it’s in the spirit of his character, it annoyed a lot of parents who felt that it caused their kids to stop believing in Santa Claus. The scene wasn’t in the trailer, so parents who figured that the movie was “safe” to play for their children without a second thought felt deceived and even demanded that the film’s rating be changed. But here’s the thing: the live-action films are also rated PG, and there is nothing about Diary of a Wimpy Kid that would cause a film to be rated PG-13.
You could argue that the Motion Picture Association film rating system in general needs more ratings for nuances like this, and I actually agree. But I definitely expect middle grade readers to at least start questioning whether Santa is real, whom this film was supposed to be targeting anyway, and Greg himself doesn’t actually say outright that Santa isn’t real, especially when he talks to Rowley, who explicitly still believes in Santa. And while I do agree that Greg’s motivation to get a game console frames him a bit like “an entitled whiny jerk”, the later scenes in the movie clearly show that this was done to advance his arc of humility in the book.
When Manny goes missing, the Heffleys search for him to find that he has been hoarding much of their supplies like in the book. However, what happens next is very different. In the book, Manny was throwing a tea party with Santa’s Scout and Alfrendo, and bursts into tears because nobody taught him how to tie his shoes. In the movie, he simply acts smug as if he was never caught, while the beat with his shoes is omitted from the film entirely. That’s a VERY big thing to omit, as Manny’s insecurity with his shoes was a rare moment of vulnerability for him in the series that added depth to his character.
Compare this to my concept trailer, in which I doubled down on this beat. I gave more dimension to Manny’s character by having him make Greg suffer in the house during the storm as revenge for ignoring him. In response, instead of being mad at Manny, Holly’s earlier words about caring for family would make Greg teach Manny how to tie his shoes, also making him remember the whole point of why Susan bought Alfrendo. In return, Manny would undo the other things he did to Greg such as locking him out of Net Kritters. Rather than any of this happening in the film, Manny gets duct taped to his seat to prevent him from running off and causing more mischief, and he remains smug for the rest of the film, which effectively robs him of any of the character development he had in the book.
After the snowstorm dies, Greg enlists Rowley to help him dig through the snow for the toy donation bin that has their hats and scarves, which Greg initially assumed was a dumpster to prevent the cops from finding them. This is similar to the book in which Greg digs through the snow to find some money that he requested. However, the lady who was driving the snowplow finds Greg instead, who is impressed with him having shoveled all the snow. Greg learns that she is a single mother who does snow plowing as a side job to support her and her son, Tyler. She wanted to get him the same video game console Greg wanted for Christmas, but she couldn’t afford it. By the way, it’s so cool that Jeff Kinney gave me a cameo in this movie, 10/10 review!
Greg admits to his family that he was the one who damaged the snowplow, unlike the book in which he never admitted to accidentally defacing the school. And rather than Alfrendo, Greg decides to give his video game console to the snowplow woman and Tyler. Both of these changes double down on the humility that Greg discovers at the end of the book, and although I would have liked to see the beat with Greg enabling the soup kitchen to stay open to be retained, it still overall improves on Greg’s already excellent character arc in the book. And given all the other disappointing changes and omissions, that’s actually pretty impressive.
Ultimately, Diary of a Wimpy Kid Christmas: Cabin Fever is a pretty good movie that makes an honest attempt at adapting its source material. Although it omits crucial scenes that reduce the depth of the original book in some ways, it still understands what made the story so great by adding new scenes that elevate it in other ways as well. It might not ultimately hold a candle to a Peanuts special like I suggested an adaptation of the book could have done in my post ranking the first ten books from worst to best. But newer fans will absolutely like it, especially those who haven’t read the book yet, and seasoned fans will enjoy it as well, even if they will still wonder what else could have been adapted from the book to make it better.
Yet I think we’re on the right track. The film was easily the best animated Diary of a Wimpy Kid film so far, and that was partly because of the fact that this film adapted a book that didn’t have a movie yet. But it was also because it was truer to its book than its predecessors were, even despite its flaws. Of course, the next film in the series, The Last Straw, is adapting a book that already has a movie, albeit technically, as the plot of The Last Straw was integrated into the Dog Days film, so it still counts. Because of that, covering that film is going to be interesting compared to the animated Rodrick Rules movie, as there will certainly be more scenes the Dog Days film didn’t adapt from The Last Straw that this fourth animated movie has plenty of opportunities to cover. If the movie does a better job at being more faithful to its book than to its live-action movie than the animated Rodrick Rules movie did, it will do a lot of good for the reputation of the animated film series.
Until we open up our diaries journals again, folks.
