Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (film)

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days is a 2012 American comedy film directed by David Bowers from a screenplay by Wallace Wolodarsky and Maya Forbes. It stars Zachary Gordon and Steve Zahn. Robert Capron, Devon Bostick, Rachael Harris, Peyton List, Grayson Russell, and Karan Brar also have prominent roles. It is the third installment in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid film series, and is based on the third and fourth books in the series, The Last Straw and Dog Days.

The film was released on August 3, 2012. It is also Bowers' second live-action film. Although the film is based on the third and fourth Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, there is a scene based on the first book, where Greg's dad, Frank, is trying to unplug Greg's video game system, but does not know how to.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days is also the last film in the series to feature the original cast members, as many of the cast (such as Zachary Gordon, Robert Capron and Devon Bostick) outgrew their roles and a re-cast was made for the future films in the series, starting with Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul, which was released five years later.

Plot
The Heffley family attends a pool party at the local pool, where the family meets a former trouble-making friend of Rodrick who is now a model student after attending a military school known as Spag Union, into which Greg's dad Frank (Steve Zahn) thinks about enrolling Greg.

Greg's summer starts off roughly, with his video games confiscated due to Frank's vision of Greg's laziness, and his mother Susan starting a book club. Frank is also getting jealous of the neighbor's athletic kids. Frank and Greg are forced to bond with each other; however, their bonding activities are causing one disaster after another. Greg's best friend, Rowley Jefferson (Robert Capron), takes Greg to the local country club, where Greg enjoys the lifestyle, and the fact that his crush, Holly Hills (Peyton List), teaches tennis there. When Greg returns home, he finds out that Frank had signed him up for an unpaid internship at Frank's job, without his consent; however, Greg evades it by lying about already having a job at the country club.

Rowley invites Greg on a family trip to their beach house near the Boardwalk. Before leaving, Greg's parents give him a starter cell phone called a Ladybug, which only allows him to call home or 911. Greg eventually dislikes the lifestyle there and attempts to escape. However, when he tries to call home using his Ladybug phone, the phone rejects his call. Then he inadvertently calls 911 and the police arrive, almost leading to the arrest of Rowley's father; Greg is then exposed and sent home. Rowley doesn't allow Greg to tag along with him to the country club because of the beach house incident, but Greg sneaks in. He meets with Holly and her sister Heather and manages to get Löded Diper a gig at Heather's sweet sixteen, much to Rodrick's delight. Rowley and Greg quickly make up; however, one morning, Greg is finally exposed when Rowley's father becomes infuriated that Greg has built up a massive fruit smoothie bill from his time at the country club, and Frank realizes Greg doesn't have a job. As a result, Greg receives a Spag Union disc, and he fears he will be sent there.

Rodrick informs Greg that the "Wilderness Weekend" could be a way to avoid Spag Union, and Greg goes there along with Rowley, Chirag (Karan Brar), and Fregley (Grayson Russel). Their troop proves weak compared to Frank's boss Stan's troop. Greg continues to mess things up, and Frank tells Greg that everyone messes up. One day, the boys overhear Stan and his troop insulting Frank, and Greg attempts to set up a plan for revenge by using traps, in which Greg finds out that Stan's troop has been using electric and other conveniences (pre-cooked meals and portable TVs), rather than actual camping. Stan arrives at the tent, and in Greg's effort to escape Stan, throws the tent into the campfire; after which, Greg decides to tell the truth, impressing Frank. Frank, having lost his respect for Stan, confronts him with the electronic conveniences. Stan eventually falls in Greg's trap. Frank reveals that he never liked camping, and decides not to send Greg to Spag Union, much to Greg's surprise and delight. Frank gives Greg advice about learning from mistakes and taking responsibilities. The two discover they are much alike than they realize.

At Heather's Sweet 16 birthday party a few days later, Löded Diper performs a rock version of "Baby" by Justin Bieber, during an attempt to win over Heather. However, Rodrick accidentally knocks over an ice sculpture, which results in Heather losing her temper, and the party ends in disaster. Holly then implies that she likes Greg by holding his hand, and in the final scene, Greg describes that his summer did not go the way he expected, but had positive circumstances.

Cast

 * Zachary Gordon as Gregory "Greg" Heffley
 * Steve Zahn as Frank Heffley, Greg's father
 * Robert Capron as Rowley Jefferson, Greg's best friend
 * Peyton List as Holly Hills, Greg's love interest, friend and eventual girlfriend
 * Rachael Harris as Susan Heffley, Greg's mother
 * Laine MacNeil as Patty Farrell, Greg's arch-enemy
 * Melissa Roxburgh as Heather Hills, Rodrick's love interest and Holly's older sister
 * Connor/Owen Fielding as Manny Heffley
 * Devon Bostick as Rodrick Heffley, Greg's brother
 * Karan Brar as Chirag Gupta, one of Greg's friends
 * Grayson Russell as Fregley, one of Greg's weird classmates
 * Alf Humphreys as Mr. Jefferson
 * Bronwen Smith as Mrs. Jefferson
 * Oliver the Dog as Sweetie Heffley
 * Phil Hayes as Stan Warren
 * Jeff Kinney as Mr. Hills

This film is the last movie in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid film series to feature the original cast, as they aged out of their roles as middle-schoolers.

Production
Principal photography began on August 8, 2011 in Vancouver and was completed on October 7, 2011. The location for the country club pool was Eagle Ridge Outdoor pool in Coquitlam, BC. Filming at Eagle Ridge Outdoor pool took place during the end of August 2011. The municipal outdoor pool scenes at the beginning and the end of the movie were filmed at Steveston Outdoor pool in Richmond, BC. Filming occurred at the Steveston Outdoor pool during the beginning of September 2011. The Chinese Bunkhouse at the Steveston Shipyards in Richmond, BC was the location of the Wilderness Explorers cabin for Troop 133. During filming, stars Zachary Gordon and Robert Capron, were seen riding the Corkscrew at Playland at Vancouver's fair, the PNE. A poster was leaked in March 2012. A teaser trailer was attached to The Three Stooges. An advance screening for the film was held on July 31, 2012.

Critical reception
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days received mixed reviews upon critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, the film has an approval rating of 51% based on 71 reviews and an average rating of 5.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Overly familiar and a bit too reliant on slapstick, the sitcom-like Dog Days fails to improve upon previous installments and will likely appeal to few outside its target audience." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 54 out of 100 based on 22 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

Abby West of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B+ and wrote "Though often self-centered and conniving, Greg remains a likable kid, and the movie entertains by pulling off over-the-top scenarios that set up digestible life lessons for youngsters."

Home media
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days was released on iTunes on December 4, 2012. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the United States on December 18, 2012.

It was released on Redbox on January 15, 2013.

Sequel
Dog Days has been described as the last live-action film in the franchise. In August 2012, while doing press for the film, Jeff Kinney, Zachary Gordon and Robert Capron each indicated that there were no plans for a fourth film, but did not dismiss the possibility entirely. Kinney replied to inquiries regarding the possibility of another sequel, stating, "At present, we don’t have a fourth film in development, but you never know!"

And when describing the likelihood of starring in another film in the series, Gordon explained, "[Dog Days] most likely will be the last movie. The main problem is [the cast] is getting older. You can't stop it.  There's no way to temporarily stop us from changing and growing up. You know, that's the problem because the characters are supposed to be timeless." In March 2013, Zachary Gordon stated in a Spreecast live stream that there would not be a fourth live-action film. Jeff Kinney has indicated that instead of doing a live-action film of the sixth novel Cabin Fever, he would like to see it adapted into an animated film, stating in an interview, "I hope that it gets made into an animated movie. I'd really like to see it turn into an animated television special."

On July 29, 2016, it was announced that a new movie with new actors based on the 9th book, The Long Haul, is in production.