I feel kind of sorry for this movie and the people involved in it, because it didn't really ask to be made.
I suspect they saw the success of Wimpy Kid and thought they'd ride that band wagon except this time...she's a girl.
I'd love to see more girls like this in the movies but this time round we just don't have a good vehicle for them.
I was aware of this character when I was 10 in 2003 though I never read her. I think they really reached into the barrel for her. This is like the eighth book in her franchise so I guess they were desperate to find one that could hold a feature length runtime.
It should have been a TV show if anything and I can feel how it could have worked in this format with its fourth wall breaks and fragmented structure. Even the Wimpy Kid movies tied themselves together by exploring a particular relationship (best friend, brother and Dad respectively).
But this has no real focal point, there isn't enough drive because there is not conflict beyond just Judy having a good time. it doesn't have enough whimsy or imagination to its gags to justify the formless nature of its plot, if you can call it a plot.
I like Judy and how she's written. She's the androgynous little girl that cinema has been needing and she's plays very well, it's just that this whole movie came from a bad place creatively. It was made under pressure by some spare screenwriters under the mandate of cigar biting executives.
Any fondness I have for this movie is a fondness for Judy herself.
