Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life

#MiddleSchoolMovie made me cry. I didn't expect the story to be so sad, but it really was, and it's all in a good way. The film is fun, adorable, heartwarming and it just makes you want to hold your loved ones closer than ever. There needs to be more and more movies like this.

The story is quite simple, it's about this young kid named Rafe (Griffin Gluck) who has an active imagination. He loves drawing stuff on his notebook and the characters come to life in this quirky animation which is part of the film's appeal. But Andrew Daly's character, the school principal is anti-creativity, so he's always on Rafe's case. So Rafe strikes back with all kinds of hilarious pranks. But at home, his mom is dating a jerk of a boyfriend who's giving him and his sister a hard time. So all in all, it hasn't been a good school year for Rafe, not to mention his family is still trying to recuperate from a certain tragedy.

Without spoiling any important plot points, let me just say that the fun parts are fun and the dramatic parts are truly dramatic, this is not a movie that insults anybody's intelligence just because it's a PG movie for younger viewers. Based on James Patterson and Chris Tebbetts' novel that I haven't read yet, but this film sure motivates me to buy a copy, what I think makes MIDDLE SCHOOL effective is that the comedy aspect isn't mean to get your guard down, and the emotional aspect isn't quickly dropped like some kind of anvil. It also opens your eyes, you realize that even a middle-schooler can go through a lot We sometimes underestimate them, we often forget that those formative years are crucial to a human being and so I think the film does a good job of showing that.

Actor Andrew Daly has played this type of douchebag authoritative role before and so has Rob Riggle in a role of a jerk, so both actors are comfortable in their element, they know what they're doing and they got it down to a science. It's absolute pure joy watching them do what they do best even if we may not like their characters. Kudos to all the kid actors as well, especially Griffin Gluck and Alexa Nisenson who seem so effortless in their performances. What other actors may have to learn for years in order to get to that point of exposing their emotions and shedding it for the screen, these kids make it seem like a walk in the park 'cause they wear it on their sleeves. What an incredible talent for such a young age. This movie's got tons of animation as well that will be sure to put a smile on your face. You will come out of the theater a much better person than when you were when you enter in. That's how surprisingly positive and powerful this film is.

-- Rama's Screen --

No it's not the new Oscar movie. However, it's still surprisingly pretty good, unlike many like it.

Comedy: Decent. Probably half of the jokes were funny, with the other half not being cheesy.

Emotion: No you're not going to cry. However there is still emotion in there mainly towards the end.

Romance: It's a fun crush between two characters, and when they break rule number..... 86? I think. Well anyways that's..... uh, sweet. I guess is the word.

Story: A good story that is better than many like it. Recommended if you can't find anything else.

Rafe Khatchadorian is a troubled student who is obsessed with his drawings. Jules (Lauren Graham) is his single mom and Bear (Rob Riggle) is her annoying boyfriend. Georgia is his smart-mouth sister. He starts at a strict new school run by the Principal Dwight and VP Stricker. He finds fellow troublemaker Leo attending the last chance school. Mr. Teller (Adam Pally) is his loose teacher. Leo talks him into breaking all the rules.

It's sporadically fun in a childish coming of age movie. The adults are one dimensional or half dimensional. There are a few too many jerks. It's unnecessary for the maitre-D to be one. It's like Diary of a Wimpy Kid but less compelling. Rafe doesn't have the spunk. The kid playing Leo would be better. It's all a little bit unlikeable. They need a more charismatic lead.

This is a good movie based off the books and I think you should check it out.

Honestly, It was one of those days when I just wanted to see a movie and anything would do. So I went to see Middle School as it was playing at the time I showed up. I herd of the movie, I did not have low expectations, and did not have any exceptions.

So what I got is a very entertaining movie. This genre of movie has never peaked my interest, so I was real surprised how much I actually liked it. It's pretty funny. A lot of good jokes that I generally enough to appeal to a large variety of people. A few laugh out loud moments, and a lot of small ones that really keep the momentum going.

This is despite the fact that the cast of characters was pretty generic and mediocre, except for one named Georgia, the little sister of the main character Rafe. Should have been more of her on the screen.

Was also surprised at how deep the movie got. It's main plot of letting children be creative individuals did not spark much inside me, but the subplots of dealing with the lost of a family member did hit home, and was delivered perfectly.

Plus, there was some cool animation in it, and I'm a sucker for that.

Overall Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life was worth the ticket. It makes me feel differently about movies like this overall.