Stars: Zachary Gordon, Devon Bostick, Steve Zahn, Rachael Harris, Robert Capron, Peyton List
Running time: 101 mins
Rating: **

THE second of the week’s sequels, a follow-up to another surprise hit. But Diary Of A Wimpy Kid 2 couldn’t be further removed from The Hangover Part II in style and execution.

This is a wish fulfilment movie for kids, based on Jeff Kinney’s “novel in cartoons” which were developed from a series of online cartoons.

I never saw the first film (and I should be grateful, according to several colleagues I spoke to). This one is passable – not so much for adults who might find the whole thing pretty tedious, but for its intended audience of impressionable youngsters.

The film takes up the story one year after the original, with Greg (Zachary Gordon) having got to grips with school but still having to cope with a bossy older brother Rodrick (Devon Bostick). Their mother (Rachael Harris), who writes a parenting column for the local newspaper, wants to bring the two boys together and introduces an incentive scheme to get them to spend more time together.

Some hope. Greg is busy eyeing up a pretty classmater Holly Hills (Peyton List), while embarking on adventures with pal Rowley (Robert Capron) and classmates Fregley (Grayson Russell) and Chirag Gupta (Karan Brar).

Greg still has a long way to go in his education, if this sequel does well enough, we can expect to see more of him on screen in the future.