If you were around in the mid-2000s, there was a chance you had heard of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, a series of still-ongoing children’s novels written and illustrated by Jeff Kinney. If not that, you may have heard of the series of live-action films based on the books, with the first one, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, released in 2010. I had some awareness of both, though for whatever reason it never really caught my interest. Fast forward to 2021 and Disney+ released a new adaptation of the original book, also titled Diary of a Wimpy Kid, though I noticed more fans of the series compare it unfavorably to the original adaptation. This finally motivated me to try and see what all the fuss was about and although I went in with no expectations about its quality, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of heart in the writing and the honestly great life lesson it can impart on its target audience.
