The key to successful children’s films in the modern era, at least those that aren’t animated, seems to be coming from the realm of book adaptations. Finding a successful series of books and coupling them with an unknown star, a modest budget and a high profile character actor or actress and you have the recipe for success. Diary of a Wimpy Kid followed this to massive amounts of success and now comes Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer, hoping to replicate that formula.
Based off the “Judy Moody” novels by Megan McDonald, the film follows the titular character (Jordana Beatty) as she sets off to have the best summer of her life. With her wacky Aunt Opal (Heather Graham) around to spice things up, and her younger brother Stink (Parris Mosteller) to annoy her, Judy has to find a way to keep herself entertained as her friends seem to be having a much more exciting and interesting summer than she is.
John Schultz is no stranger to live action films aimed at children, with a fairly extensive history in the genre, and as such it’s not shocking that he’d be one to handle this, but he’s been handed a bad hand to play. This is a film that relies on a fairly inexperienced cast of child actors as well as a poor script that culminates in one of the worst things to happen to children in a movie theatre in a long time. Having inexperienced and marginally talented children is one thing but the film’s faults lie in a script that does no one favors.
From the dialogue to the meandering plot, this will be painful for parents not because it’s a children’s film but because it’s a bad one. This is a film desperately trying to be another Diary of a Wimpy Kid and failing miserably at it. That film was a well oiled machine that took a successful series of children’s novels and adapted them into strong characters with a strong story. In comparison Judy Moody is a rusted out machine with instructions written in purple crayon in a made up language that the author of which has forgotten.
It’s a shame because Schultz is really trying to craft a good story out of it. After starting out with the terrific cult film Bandwagon and breaking through to the mainstream with Drive Me Crazy featuring future Entourage star Adrian Grenier, Schultz has been mainly stuck with children’s live action films of poor quality. It’s not that he isn’t trying, similar to Aliens in the Attic or Like Mike, it’s just that there’s such trash for a script that this is the best film he could probably make out of it.
In an era where imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the producers behind Diary of a Wimpy Kid and its equally successful sequel ought to be flattered that someone tried to imitate their formula with another children’s novel to try and duplicate that success. It’s more difficult than it looks, though, If Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer is any indication.
Director: John Schultz
Notable Cast: Jordana Beatty, Heather Graham, Jaleel White, Preston Bailey, Parris Mosteller
Writer: Kathy Waugh and Megan McDonald based off McDonald’s “Judy Moody” novels
