The Big Picture

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Christmas: Cabin Fever capture elements of the franchise that were ignored in the live-action films, thanks to novel series creator Jeff Kinney’s involvement. The animation allows for a flawed protagonist, depicting Greg Heffley as lazy and opportunistic, which adds a greater humor to the character. The movie plays with horror movie tropes and highlights Greg’s insecurities, showing that kids’ reckless behavior and mistakes are part of growing up, making it an enjoyable adaptation of the novels.

The best thing about the Diary of a Wimpy Kid animated movies is that they manage to capture elements of the franchise that were simply ignored or watered down in the live-action franchise. Of course, it helps that novel series creator Jeff Kinney pens the screenplay and produces these entries, which he does again in Diary of a Wimpy Kid Christmas: Cabin Fever.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Christmas: Cabin Fever Release Date December 8, 2023 Director Luke Cormican Cast Erica Cerra , Wesley Kimmel , Hunter Dillon , Spencer Howell Rating PG Runtime 95 minutes Writers Jeff Kinney , Kathleen Shugrue

In the new installment – the third one – Greg Heffley (voiced by Wesley Kimmel) is in quiet desperation as he realizes he might not have been a good child throughout the year and that means he won’t get a Christmas present from Santa Claus. It all gets worse when he and Rowley (Spencer Howell) cause a snow incident that might just prove to the whole town that they’re criminals.

‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ Understands The Mind of Kids

But, of course, that last part is only on the minds of Greg and Rowley. One of the elements that Kinney managed to transport from his novel series is how some events grow to life-threatening proportions in the mind of a child because they don’t know any better. And even though we do, it’s fun to watch both because we know how irrelevant these events can be and also because we can’t help but relate to the feeling that we messed up really badly.

At the same time, another great strength of the animated Diary of a Wimpy Kid specials comes in how they depict its protagonist as flawed and not exactly the best friend a kid can have. A lot of what makes Greg funny is the fact that he’s lazy and opportunistic, characteristics that were largely avoided in the live-action films. Since animation provides a bit of wiggle room for kids to be evil and get a pass, we now get a consistent Greg who frequently has to deal with the consequences of his actions.

‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid Christmas: Cabin Fever’ Plays Around With Horror
Image via Disney

Speaking of animation, once again Diary of a Wimpy Kid delivers a gorgeous-looking feature that manages to combine the style we’ve come to know and love from the novels and add some visual gags that help elevate the experience and make it funnier. One good example is the moment that Greg spots his dream present (a “mega-station” console) and it glows to him, only to stop glowing when he gets called back to reality. There’s also a good amount of attention to detail with characters in the background doing their own thing while the action happens (you’ll want to keep looking at Fregley).

Another great element of Diary of a Wimpy Kid Christmas: Cabin Fever (and the franchise in general) is playing to Greg’s insecurities and making us laugh every time we realize that he is mostly putting on a façade of a know-it-all kid when in fact he’s almost just as clueless as the others his age. The best representation of this is the elf toy rescued by his mother, whose “curse” becomes more and more obvious (to Greg) as terrible things start adding up on Christmas Eve. The best thing is that the elf barely ever moves, which is a great way to underscore that Greg’s panic is all in his head as it plays with horror movie tropes.

A lot of that is certainly helped by the fact that the Disney+ movie has Kinney as a screenwriter. At the same time, it is the fact that Kinney is the writer and producer that makes it hard to understand what’s going on with Susan Heffley (Erica Cerra). For the third time in a row, she’s watered down to becoming a generic mom figure, while in the source material, she’s easily one of the funniest characters. She can be tough and not take crap from Greg but also show clear favoritism to her youngest son Manny (Gracen Newton). If the animated franchise keeps going, it’d be great to see the more interesting Susan on screen.

Despite this slight problem, Diary of a Wimpy Kid Christmas: Cabin Fever is still a greatly enjoyable entry in the animated adaptation landscape that mostly captures the essence of the novels. Most importantly, it doesn’t forget that kids’ insecurities can make them reckless and even unlikable, and that’s okay because, eventually, they’ll learn from their mistakes. We love Greg’s egotism and love it even more when he realizes he’s been kind of a jerk to people who care about him. As long as the animated movies continue to understand that, they can keep going for as long as the novels have.

Rating: 8/10

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Christmas: Cabin Fever is now available to stream on Disney+.

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