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Even I have to laugh at the #notmyrodrick uproar. It's the silver lining in all of this. "The Long Haul" is atrocious, a dumbed-down sequel that tosses out the series' charms for the cheap gags. It's got DTV written all over it, which does not do the book justice. And it was a great book!

It was about six months ago that we saw the trailer for this in the theater. Tom Everett Scott and Alicia Silverstone start jamming to The Spice Girls' "Wannabe", and a kid in the back of the theater asks, "Mommy, what are they saying?".

That moment was funnier than anything in the movie.

3/10

Greg Heffley (Jason Drucker) is looking forward to a long summer of just hanging out, but his mother forces the entire family to take a road trip for a relative's birthday celebration.

Wimpy Kid veteran David Bowers directs a briskly paced family comedy in the vein of National Lampoon's (only a version for a younger audience). The cast include the familiar faces of actors Alicia Silverstone and Tom Everett Scott who are accompanied by some fresh faced new comers who play Wimpy Kid favourites Greg, Rodrick and Rowley. The players are forgivably not as settled into their roles quite yet but nonetheless are entertaining. Some editing aside Bowers offers a well made good looking film. Long Haul is a road trip where almost every outlandish gag is borrowed from another comedy but it's put together well enough to get pleasure from. It also amusingly touches on the over reliance of technology within a family.

If your child is a fan of the Wimpy Kid series, they'll no doubt enjoy this one, it's entertaining and lowbrow enough to also appease the moodiest of teens and grumpiest adults.

10/13.17. I enjoyed the first 3 Wimpy Kid movies and I was a bit unsure that an entire cast change could continue the series. But, surprisingly enough it did fine. It's a cross-country road trip movie with the Heffley family as they travel to Meemaw's 90th birthday party. The humor was funny and it does touch on modern-day issues like can't we all just spend time together as a family without devices? Silverstone did a great job as mom, and Scott was surprisingly good as the put-upon dad. Enjoyable, despite the total cast change.

This film is unwatchable. I suffered through the 91 minutes, which somehow felt longer than the extended edition of Fellowship of the Ring. The new cast was horrific, the script was aimed at toddlers and the acting was the worst that I have seen in recent memory. While I do not think that the original films are phenomenal, I spent the majority of the film wishing that I was watching one of them. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul lacked charm and felt like when you accidentally buy Great Value chips instead of Lays.

First of all, let's get this out of the way. No, your eyes are not deceiving you. Yes, they did RECAST THE ENTIRE FAMILY, all of 'em, even the dorky friend. They've all been replaced. Steve Zahn? Gone. Rachel Harris? Gone. Zachary Gordon? Gone. In their place we have Tom Everett Scott and Alicia Silverstone as the parents and Jason Drucker taking on the role of Zachary Gordon. Now, I love Alicia Silverstone....or did. Way back in the 90s, she was the "it girl" and she did some pretty great films back then, Hollywood hasn't really been kind to her since then. Her last MAJOR Hollywood film was Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, alright? So other than featuring on TV shows, she hasn't really done any worthwhile work in Hollywood films. This could have been her triumphant return to the big screen but the dialogue was bad, the plot was extremely stupid, and honestly, it looks like she was trying too hard to fit the role and it wasn't working. She was over-acting in most of her scenes and it made her look like a cartoon character more than the mom that Rachel Harris spent 3 films developing. The kid that took over the role of Greg (the main character) also seemed like he was trying way too hard to imitate Zachary Gordon. I imagine the producers probably sat him down and made him watch the previous Diary of a Wimpy Kid films so that he could perfect his imitation. Instead of being the role, he seemed like he was trying to be someone else being the role. It wasn't working.

Shame on you Warner Brothers for putting out this garbage. This film should never have been made. Not without the original cast and certainly not without the hilarious writing and quirky dialogue that made the previous films what they were. Instead of re-casting the family, they SHOULD HAVE made a sequel with the same cast, playing the same roles, but older in age.....because you know.....kids grow up, right?

Too long/Didn't read: Don't waste your time on this stinker. Pretend it doesn't exist and just continue to enjoy the previous films for what they were.