Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (sometimes known as Diary of a Wimpy Kid 3: Dog Days) is a 2012 American comedy film directed by David Bowers from a screenplay by Wallace Wolodarsky and Maya Forbes.

Summary
School's out. Summer vacation is on. However, Greg may not have the best summer vacation ever. What could go wrong?

Good Qualities

 * 1) It’s the third installment in the film franchise and still manages to stay loyal to the source material very well.
 * 2) Leaves no continuity errors or last-minute changes and actually occurs not too long after the events of the second movie, where Greg learns to be a better son after learning to be a better friend and a better brother in the first and second installments respectively, such as Greg apologizing to Rowley for the Cranium Shaker incident, and Greg not trying to throw Rowley or Rodrick in the movie under the bus when Robert Jefferson confronts Greg and Frank about all the fruit smoothies he ordered.
 * 3) The cartoon aspect the film takes from the book is amazing and still looks as if it were drawn by Jeff Kinney himself, just like the first two movies.
 * 4) Greg and Rodrick's friendship from the previous film continues in this film, for example, when Greg and Rodrick help each other out where Greg helps Rodrick get to perform at Heather's Sweet 16 and Rodrick not snitching on Greg when he admits to Rodrick of not having a job and Greg not trying to throw Rodrick under the bus when he gets confronted about all the fruit smoothies he has ordered.
 * 5) Brilliant acting, especially from Zachary Gordon, Robert Capron, and Devon Bostick, just like the first two films.
 * 6) A very interesting sub-plot about Rodrick developing a crush on Holly’s older sister, Heather, and gives more scenes developing her as a character and showing the differences between the relationship between Greg and Holly, and Rodrick and Heather, showing that Greg and Holly have more chemistry than Rodrick and Heather.
 * 7) The scenes are incredibly funny and memorable, like the scene where Greg and Rowley go on the Cranium Shaker, the scene where Greg and Rowley play tennis with Holly and Patty, and the scene where Greg thinks his dad's hand is the Muddy Hand.
 * 8) There is a very heartwarming moment that pretty much tops the book where Greg's dad, Frank, decides not to send Greg to Spag Union as he recalls how a person should learn from their mistakes, while the book just involves Frank deciding to pay Greg back for getting him out of a birthday party, which makes him a better version than his book counterpart.
 * 9) The shot where Greg and Frank in the tent at night where they are so far apart emotionally, after the scene where Frank finds out Greg doesn't have a job and states his disappointment, is a great one because it perfectly shows the state of their relationship at that moment of how they feel so apart from each other but they have to share a tent together inspite of this.
 * 10) Greg Heffley, Rowley Jefferson, Rodrick, and many others are still the likable and relatable characters as they were before while staying loyal to their book counterparts.
 * 11) A very decent message for most kids about how they should embrace the outside and get out of the house instead of being indoors all day, especially during summer break with proper execution.
 * 12) The ending scene of Greg and Holly becoming a couple is extremely satisfying, especially after two movies, where he got to know Holly, spend time with her and get to know her, and perfectly concludes the trilogy with Greg becoming a better friend, son, and brother, and getting a girlfriend in the process helps top the original books by showing how much Greg has grown as a person, both physically and mentally, learning to take responsibility for his actions, and fixing his mistakes.

Wimpy Qualities

 * 1) Product placement like the PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360, Coke, Utz, and among others, although nowhere near as much as the following movie.
 * 2) The infamous scene where a lifeguard does mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on Rodrick.
 * 3) There are a couple of writing inconsistences, such as Frank's relationship with Stan Warren as they seemed to have on friendly terms at the beginning of the movie, and then starts acting like a complete jerk to Frank completely out of nowhere.'
 * 4) Heather Hills, Patty Farrell, Stan Warren, and Taylor Pringle (the girl at the diving board) are unlikable characters.

Reception
Just like Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010) and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, it recieved mixed reviews from critics, but it was well recieved by the audience and the fans of the book series. On Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, the film has an approval rating of 52% 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."

Trivia

 * This is the final time Zachary Gordon starring in the movie before he became a high schooler.