For Dear Children
At Mackeral Middle School, Jamie (Emily Alyn Lind - Who Is Clark Rockefeller?), an imaginative seventh grader, knows she is one of the average group, a student destined to go through life unnoticed. For Jamie that is frustrating as not only does she wish her secret crush, Hudson (David Mazouz), would notice her but her nemesis, Angeline (Sterling Griffith), is one of those beautiful people who always gets noticed. Determined to be noticed Jamie sets about entering the school's Jump-a-thon fundraiser and also trying to save the school's art program.
I think the best way to start this movie review is with a bit of context; I am a middle aged British male and as such "Dear Dumb Diary" was not made with me in mind as this is one of those movies about the misadventures of an overly imaginative child as they navigate the ups and downs of school life. But whilst technically "Dear Dumb Diary" is a family movie I would say more than ever it is a movie for the children in that family who are the same age as the character of Jamie as the humour and styling is at that level, which for grown ups makes "Dear Dumb Diary" a bit of a nothing movie.
With that in mind I am sure any young child who watched "Dear Dumb Diary" would probably find it entertaining with its simple comedy of the smart Jamie talking directly to the camera, coming up with imaginative ideas whilst having quirky friends. But for adults it is all very familiar as whilst the events which Jamie go through maybe different the styling has been done before with some talking to the camera and hand written note overlays. About the only thing which was a little out of the ordinary is the number of musical numbers which crop up which again are definitely aimed at the younger audience than the grown up one.
What this all boils down to is that "Dear Dumb Diary" is for me just another in a long line of children's movie which feature the misadventures of a young child as they navigate school with their imagination usually running riot. For children it probably is a little entertaining but for any adult who watches it there is not only something familiar about it but also a very cheesy side to it.
