If you are a parent, there’s a very good chance Jeff Kinney has been part of your daily routine. The American author created and illustrated the wildly successful Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, which has expanded beyond Kinney’s original books to include live-action movies and animated adventures, the latest being Disney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid Christmas: Cabin Fever, available now if you have a Disney+ subscription. What I didn’t realize, as someone who read the Wimpy Kid books to my kids and watched the films over the years, is that making a Christmas movie brings the Wimpy Kid concept full circle. At least, that’s what Kinney told CinemaBlend.
In preparation for Disney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid Christmas: Cabin Fever coming out for the Christmas season, we got the opportunity to sit down with Jeff Kinney and talk about this new movie, his ongoing projects, and the history of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. And when I started out by asking Kinney which Christmas staples are on in his house, he took the time-honored answer of A Christmas Story, but went one step further, explaining to CinemaBlend:
I think, in a way, A Christmas Story really inspired the whole Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. Because it was an adult looking back on their childhood. And with the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, from the beginning, I actually intended for them to be an adult reflecting on their childhood. And so I wanted the books to be for grownups, not kids. It all kind of started with there and with The Wonder Years.
That makes so much sense. As much as the audience connects with lead Wimpy Kid character Greg, author Jeff Kinney spends just as much time developing the supporting players in Greg’s world… notably his frazzled father, and patient mom. You can see how this could easily be told in a Wonder Years or A Christmas Story template, with an older Greg looking back on stories that eventually became Rodrick Rules, or the endearing Dog Days.
In a sense, that’s what Jeff Kinney is doing now. Because he has been authoring the Diary of a Wimpy Kid stories for so many years, animated specials like Disney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid Christmas: Cabin Fever are giving him the opportunity to revive existing tales, and refashion them for a fresh audience. He’s also polishing his technique as a screenwriter, and went on to tell CinemaBlend:
I like this idea that I can take a book that I wrote when I was in my twenties or early thirties and revisit those stories, and then really perfect those stories. I feel like as a writer, I've come a long way. When I was writing the original Wimpy Kid books, I didn't know how to structure a story properly. I didn't know how to tell a story the right way. I certainly didn't know how to tell a story cinematically. And so now, I think I've learned a lot. And so I relish the opportunity to revisit those original stories – where there were some good ideas – but to tell the story in the most perfect way.
The influence of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series is undeniable. Heck, Christopher Nolan name-dropped the movies while promoting his awards contender Oppenheimer recently. We’re all Wimpy Kid fans out here. Make sure you put Wimpy Kid Christmas on your television this holiday season. It’s one of the best Disney+ movies available at the moment, and is sure to entertain your entire crew when you gather together for seasonal festivities.
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