Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (2012 film)

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
	File:Dog days poster featuring sweetie the dog.jpg
Directed by	David Bowers
Produced by	Nina Jacobson; Brad Simpson
Screenplay by	Wallace Wooladarsky; Maya Forbes
Based on	The Last Straw & Dog Days
Narrated by	Zachary Gordon
Starring	Zachary Gordon; Robert Capron; Steve Zahn; Rachael Harris; Peyton List; Karan Brar; Devon Bostick;
Music by	Edward Shearmur
Cinematography	Anthony B. Richmond
Editing by	Troy Takai
Studio	Dune Entertainment Color Force
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	Friday, August 3rd, 2012
Running time	94 minutes
Country	United States and Canada
Budget	$22 million
Box office	$77,112,177
Preceded by	Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules

Template:Spoiler

Turtles is the 3rd film in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid film franchise. It is based on both the third book and also the fourth book in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. It was released on Friday, August 3rd, 2012. It starred Zachary Gordon, Devon Bostick, Robert Capron, Peyton List, Karan Brar, Rachael Harris and Steve Zahn.

This film was also the last film to feature the original actors, as many had outgrown their roles.

Plot

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As summer is close to it's end, several days later, Loded Diper goes to Heather's Sweet 16 birthday party along with Greg and Rowley as roadies. Everything at the party is very fancy as there is a chocolate fountain, an ice sculpture of Heather and men in tuxes and women in dresses. Rodrick tells his band that he needs to make a love connection with Heather and tells Ben to play drums while he sings lead vocals. They perform a rock version of Justin Bieber's "Baby" trying to impress Heather. When they go hardcore, the crowd watches in shock and Heather reacts in dismay. When Rodrick attempts to hold her hand, Heather resists in disgust. Rodrick sings the chorus again wildly, accidentally knocking down the ice sculpture. Heather attempts to hit Rodrick but he dodges and she instead hits the chocolate fountain which sprays all of the guests, ruining the party. Greg apologizes to Holly, but Holly is happy saying that Heather wants people to remember her Sweet Sixteen, and they will. Holly holds Greg's hand and they happily smile at each other, becoming a couple.

Greg states that summer was not how he planned it to be, but everything turned out fine for him. Greg, Rowley and Holly swim at the municipal pool together, with Greg's family. Greg says that things between him and Frank will be okay and says that they are good at working together, with Greg saying it was the best summer ever. After the movie ends, an animated credits are shown, with some animated scenes of Greg.

Major Cast

Zachary Gordon as Greg Heffley, the protagonist
Steve Zahn as Frank Heffley, who is the father of Greg, Rodrick and Manny
Robert Capron as Rowley Jefferson, Greg's best friend
Rachael Harris as Susan Heffley, the mother of Greg, Rodrick and Manny
Devon Bostick as Rodrick Heffley, Greg's older brother
Connor and Owen Fielding as Manny Heffley, Greg's younger spoiled brother
Peyton R. List as Holly Hills, Greg Heffley's love interest
Melissa Roxburgh as Heather Hills, Holly's arrogant elder sister, and Rodrick's love interest
Laine MacNeil as Patty Farrell, Greg's Arch Nemesis
Grayson Russell as Fregley
Karan Brar as Chirag Gupta, one of Greg's friends
Jeff Kinney (the author) as Mr. Hills, the father of Heather and Holly
Emily Holmes as Mrs. Hills, the mother of Holly and Heather
Philip Maurice Hayes as Stan Warren, Greg's father's boss
Terence Kelly as Grandpa Heffley, Greg's grandfather
Bronwen Smith as Linda Jefferson, Rowley's mother
Alf Humphreys as Robert Jefferson, Rowley's father
Bryce Hodgson as Ben Segal, one of Rodrick's band mates
Christopher De-Schuster as Chris, one of Rodrick's band mates
Dalila Bela as Taylor Pringle
Frank C. Turner as Mr. Barrett, the scout master
Andrew McNee as Coach Malone, Greg's Phys Ed coach

Critical reception

The film has received mixed reviews. It holds 51% on Rotten Tomatoes, with the general consensus stating "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 54/100, indicating "mixed or average reviews." 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."

Differences Between The Books And The Film

Coach Malone is a minor character in the film. When Malone is talking on the phone while Greg and Rowley are trying to get the right phone number of Holly Hills and accidentally call him, he doesn't know Greg when he answers the phone. Probably because he didn't recognize him.
In the film, Spag Union is a prep school, while in The Last Straw, it is a military academy.
Chirag Gupta appears in the movie, while he is not featured in Dog Days (book).
In the book the Hills family isn't shown to be members at the Country Club.
The Reading Is Fun Club had various people in the book, but it had only 3 in the movie.
The Warrens are only briefly mentioned and briefly appeared in The Last Straw, but in the movie, Stan Warren is one of the main antagonists.
Heather has more personality in the movie and has a bigger role.
Greg and Holly are implied to be a real couple at the end of the movie, but Holly is barely mentioned after The Last Straw. In fact, when the Hills are mentioned in the books, Heather is the one Greg's attracted to.
Greg never goes to the Country Club after being banned by Mr. Jefferson, but in the movie he isn't directly banned and later sneaks in afterwards.
In the book Dog Days, Frank Heffley is nearly arrested, but in this movie Robert Jefferson is the one who almost gets arrested.
In the book, the Muddy Hand is in Hello, You're Dead, which is a scary movie, but here it was in a camp fire story told by Fregley.
Greg doesn't have a crush on Heather in the movie, but he continues his crush on Holly. However, in the animated credits, Greg is trying to show and flex his muscles in front of Heather and her friend.
In the movie, Greg smashes his father's hand with a mallet once, but in the book, Rowley smashes Greg's hand with a mallet more than once.
Lenwood Heath was a lifeguard at the community pool in the movie, but in The Last Straw he had a job at the movie theater.
In the book, Frank gives Sweetie to Gramma in the end, but in the movie, Sweetie is still with the Heffleys till the end of the movie and it is unknown if they gave Sweetie away or not.
Patty Farrell is included while in the book she was not heard of since The Last Straw.
Greg went to the Cranuim Shaker with Rowley but in the book he went alone. And Rowley bought a shirt that says "I Survived the Cranium Shaker" in the book but he didn't in the film.
In the book Susan came up with the name Sweetie for the dog. But in the film Manny suggested the name and didn't suggest animal names. And Rodrick didn't suggest Turtle (only so they could call him Turd) or any names for the dog.
In the book Greg was kicked out of the country club early on in the story, forcing him to go to the community pool, but in the film Greg is kicked out of the country club during the near end of the movie.
In the book after the events of The Last Straw, Greg gives up on Holly Hills and moves on to other girls. In the film Greg still has feelings for Holly and hasn't moved on to other girls.
The smoothies bill was $83 in the book, but $216 in the film. Also, in the book, Susan confiscates Greg's birthday money to pay off the bill, while Frank is forced to pay himself in the movie.
Lenwood Appears was not seen in the Dog Days Book

Trivia

While the movie received mixed reviews from critics, many fans consider this and Rodrick Rules to be much better than the first film, and received more positive reviews from the fans than the first film.
This is the third film in the film series.
This is the last film with the original cast.
This movie is The Last Straw and Dog Days combined into one story.

Release Dates

Country

Date

Canada

August 3, 2012

Ireland

August 3, 2012

Italy

August 3, 2012

United Kingdom

August 3, 2012

U.S.A

August 3, 2012

Philipines

August 15, 2012

Singapore

August 30, 2012

Turkey

August 31, 2012

Australia

September 20, 2012

Germany

September 20, 2012

New Zealand

September 27, 2012

Spain

September 28, 2012

Poland

October 19, 2012

France

October 24, 2012

Brazil

November 2, 2012

Hungary

December 12, 2012

(premiered with DVD)

Taiwan

December 14, 2012

(premiered with DVD)

Sweden

March 20, 2013

(premiered with DVD)

Production

In an interview, Devon Bostick (Rodrick Heffley) said that The Last Straw could be in the works and is "90% sure it will happen" depending on the success of Rodrick Rules.^[4]here is one photo that Gordon posted on his Facebook page showing, himself (Zachary Gordon), Robert Capron (Rowley Jefferson), Peyton Roi List (Holly Hills) and Laine MacNeil (Patty Farrell), together on set.

Zachary Gordon wore a tight fitting "skin colored bathing suit" (presumably moleskin) covering his genitals when he acted out the inconsequential scene of Greg's unintentional skinny dipping into the country club pool, to which his bathing suit is snagged on the corner edges of the high dive and slips out of it (off camera) while jumping off the board. However, after the take that was used in the finished film, Gordon admitted in an interview with WJTV that it felt embarrassing to wear, even though he signed autographs to the nearby fans and onlookers. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=407388845983882&set=pb.320242754698492.-2207520000.1355004548&type=3&theater

Goofs/Errors

At Heather Hills' Sweet 16 party, during LD's performance, Heather Hills swings at Rodrick with his mic stand, missing him, but in turn knocks her chocolate fountain over & away from her. In the next shot, she's seen standing next to her friend on the opposite side of the fountain, without the mic stand, & the chocolate fountain has been splattered onto her somehow.
When Frank Heffley tells Greg to keep an eye on Manny, the captions say "Greg, Watch Manny"
When Greg is walking with Rowley at the beginning, his legs disappear as they are walking.
When Susan is telling Frank about Manny's lost Tingy, Frank replies with "I'm sure it'll turn up" while facing forward talking to Susan. In the next shot Susan is behind him finding the Tingy.
When Rodrick hands Greg the remote control for the pyrotechnics at Heather Hills' birthday party, he is wearing a sleeveless shirt. In the next shot, he is wearing an over-shirt which he takes off to reveal the sleeveless shirt.
The hand on the spinner constantly changes places throughout the scene in which Greg and Rowley's family play a board game.
When Rodrick is singing a song for Heather's Sweet 16, and Rodrick hits the ice sculpture, a lighting crew is seen on top of a table in the background.
When the Cranium shaker moves upwards, we see some mountain scenery and movie studio buildings below, and not the usual boardwalk scenery where the movie should take place.
The characters played by Joshua J. Ballard and Matt Mazur are swapped in the end credits. In fact Ballard was Spag Union Tracking Device Boy and Mazur was Spag Union Math Boy.
When Frank Heffley checks his watch and says that he's late for work, he actually looks at his left arm, which doesn't have a watch on it. However, this was deliberate and not a mistake, as Frank needed an excuse to leave and so didn't actually bother to check the time properly.
Although the movie is set during the summer holidays, fall foliage is clearly visible throughout the film.
At the end, at Heather Hills' "Sweet 16," Rodrick sings. After Rodrick sings his song, Heather gets angry and swings one of the microphone stands towards Rodrick, who ducks so Heather hits the chocolate fountain. In the next shot, Heather is hit by the chocolate fountain and the microphone stand disappears.