DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: THE LAST STRAW

Here's the good news up front: this one is a delight. The animation is wonderful, the voices fit the characters perfectly, and the story lands with real warmth. Underneath the laughs runs a genuinely strong moral message about family — specifically, a father and son who slowly learn to trust and love each other.

The cautions are modest and honest. Greg lies to his parents to cut corners, there's some name-calling and embarrassing moments, and slapstick comedy throughout. Notably, the deception is brought to light and rebuked, not rewarded — so even the misbehavior serves the story's point.

If you have older pre-teens and up, gather the family and stream it. With younger children, use a little judgment about the lying and name-calling, since they laugh before they learn. Either way, this is a warm, well-made movie worth your evening.

Greg Heffley is an awkward middle schooler who seems to get everything wrong — he can barely work the front door key. When his snow-shoveling business with his friend Rowley ends in disaster, his exasperated father, Frank, decides it may be time for military boarding school.

Terrified, Greg jumps at an alternative: Rowley's club, the Woodchippers, a Boy-Scouts-style group that trains boys in responsibility and skills. Earn the top badge, and Greg gets to stay home. All he has to do is not make a mess of it — which, for Greg, is easier said than done.

Four stars, and they're earned. From the first frame to the last, the movie pairs clear, engaging animation with fantastically voiced characters. The comedy is woven through everything — the dialogue, the character designs, the whole look of it — and it keeps landing.

A special treat for fans: at points the film drops into the black-and-white, sketchbook-style animation of the original books, a clever touch that pulls readers straight back into Greg's diary. It helps that the screenplay comes from Jeff Kinney himself, the author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, who also produced. The result is funny, heartwarming, and confident about what it is — a family comedy that actually has something to say.

This is a strong, pro-family movie, and its heart is a father-son relationship that grows over the course of the story. Frank sees himself as an incompetent parent who can't raise his son right; Greg sees himself as always letting his dad down. Their arc is the slow, satisfying work of two people learning to know each other.

What the film exalts is worth naming. Frank learns patience — to stop flying off the handle and to express love even when his son isn't performing the way he wants. Greg learns that his father genuinely wants to be close to him. Along the way the movie honors friendship and teamwork, and the family is even shown going to church.

The one real moral thread to watch is Greg's deception. He lies to his parents to get ahead, and for a while it works. But the film doesn't let it stand: everything comes to light, and the lying is rebuked, not rewarded. That's the right lesson, handled the right way.

At bottom, this is a story about a father who keeps reaching for a son who feels like a failure — and a son who discovers he was wanted all along. Scripture puts that reunion at the center of the gospel: "for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found" (Luke 15:24).

This is the rare family comedy that's genuinely funny and genuinely good for you — sharp animation, warm voices, and a father-son story that earns its tears. The lying and slapstick keep it a step shy of the very youngest viewers, but for older pre-teens and up, it's a joy. Our answer: worth the trip — ages 10 and up.