{"id":1531,"date":"2011-06-10T05:09:16","date_gmt":"2011-06-10T12:09:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=1531"},"modified":"2011-06-10T05:09:16","modified_gmt":"2011-06-10T12:09:16","slug":"review-judy-moody-and-the-not-a-bummer-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=1531","title":{"rendered":"Review: JUDY MOODY AND THE NOT A BUMMER SUMMER"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>It really bugs me when a kid\u2019s film has the young characters bouncing around in a moving car without wearing their seatbelts. And while watching \u201cJudy Moody and the Not a Bummer Summer\u201d it was this image above all that I found unforgivable. This is a movie targeted at young girls that will certainly make them laugh but won\u2019t teach them much.<\/p>\n

\u201cJudy Moody and the NOT a Bummer Summer\u201d is adapted from the books written by Megan McDonald, who helped write the screenplay and serves as one of the film\u2019s producers. It\u2019s directed by John Schultz, who previously found success with the basketball film \u201cLike Mike\u201d and last gave us the bland \u201cAliens in the Attic.\u201d Comparisons to \u201cDiary of a Wimpy Kid\u201d are fair, but \u201cMoody\u201d feels more like the sequel to that one, which I didn\u2019t care for, than the charming first \u201cDiary\u201d outing. Going for cheap laughs and lowbrow gags, \u201cJudy Moody\u201d may enchant very young girls but leave parents happy to see it end.<\/p>\n

In \u201cNOT a Bummer Summer,\u201d Judy Moody (a very energetic Jordana Beatty) has her summer all planned. But when one of her friends goes off to circus camp and another hops a jet for Borneo, Judy\u2019s whole agenda is wrecked. And when her parents have to go take care of a sick relative, she\u2019s left with her Aunt Opal (Heather Graham). Judy\u2019s determined to not let these setbacks impede her thrilling summer vacation. This means that she\u2019s got to figure out a way to beat the summer bummer blues even if she\u2019s got to go it alone. Of course, her younger brother Stink (Parris Mosteller) might get in the way, especially given that Bigfoot himself is out on the prowl in the neighborhood.<\/p>\n

Feeling kind of a like \u201cPee-Wee\u2019s Big Adventure\u201d at times, \u201cJudy Moody\u201d just doesn\u2019t hang together. Heather Graham makes for one shapely Aunt Opal and Jordana Beatty is extremely cute, but the story is really uneven not knowing whether it wants to be a fantasy or just another kiddie comedy. There are some nice casting choices like an all grown up Jaleel White as Judy\u2019s fun loving teacher. White certainly doesn\u2019t look like the quintessential nerd he played for years on TV, but the geek vibe is happily simmering underneath his Mr. Todd. And frankly it\u2019s a television show vibe that makes \u201cMoody\u201d feel less like something you should have paid to see on the big screen and more like one that ought to be playing on the small one. While fans of TV\u2019s \u201ciCarly\u201d and \u201cThe Wizards of Waverly Place\u201d might like this kind of thing, it is a little out of place in the summer blockbuster market especially when the Abrams\/Spielberg film is gobbling up the box office.<\/p>\n

The production design of \u201cMoody\u201d is sure colorful and exuberant but the story just doesn\u2019t give viewers a reason to cheer. And what\u2019s worse is that this summer outing doesn\u2019t make us want to see another one. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jonathan thinks that MOODY belongs on TV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1531"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1531\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1535,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1531\/revisions\/1535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}