A youth-centered franchise without superheroes, magic or vampires is a rare thing these days, which imbues the otherwise rudimentary "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules" with a strange kind of 'burb-bound, kid-powered charm.
Hot on the heels of last year's first movie foray into Jeff Kinney's rabidly popular book series, the sequel dives headfirst into the turbulent dynamic between hapless, undersized tween diary-keeper Greg Heffley (Zachary Gordon) and his too-cool-for-school older brother Rodrick (Devon Bostick), who seems to tolerate Greg only when torturing him. (Or, we should say, CIA-euphemistically, using enhanced humiliation techniques).
