Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (2022)

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Not suitable under 6; parental guidance to 7 (cartoon violence, scary scenes, sexual references, themes)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (2022)
  • a review of Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (2022) completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 29 January 2025.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 6 Not suitable due to violence and sexual references.
Children aged 6–7 Parental guidance recommended due to violence and sexual references.
Children aged 8 and over Ok for this age group.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (2022)
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild crude humour
Length: 75 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Middle-schooler Greg Heffley (voiced by Brady Noon) is trying his best to get along with his older brother Rodrick (voiced by Hunter Dillon) who is way too cool for school. When Greg and Rodrick’s parents go away for the weekend leaving the boys alone, Rodrick decides to throw a huge party at their house, locking Greg and his friend Rowley (voice of Ethan William Childress) in the basement. Greg threatens to tell their parents about the party unless Rodrick starts treating him better and teaching him how to lie and cheat. With the party still a secret, Greg and Rodrick visit their Grandpa at the retirement home where Greg finds himself in the female toilets. After being accused of being a “peeping tom” in the toilets with his pants off, Greg is chased around the retirement home by security guards and some old ladies. Once back home, Greg and Rodrick’s parents discover evidence of the party the previous weekend, grounding both Greg and Rodrick. For revenge on Greg, Rodrick sends out photos of Greg’s diary to the whole school, detailing the incident at the retirement home. Luckily, these photos are misinterpreted and Greg comes out sounding like a hero. With Rodrick grounded and unable to play with his band Loded Diper for the talent contest; the band approaches Greg, asking him to step up in his brother’s place. This final conflict leads the brothers to reassess their relationship and they promise to always be friends.

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Conflict; Sibling rivalry; Crude humour.

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some mild cartoon violence in this movie, including:

  • Fighting and rough-housing between Greg and Rodrick, eg. Rodrick hitting Greg with drumsticks.
  • Greg and Rodrick throw a character out of the door and he flies up before crashing on the ground.
  • On two occasions during the movie, Greg is seen playing a violent video game.
  • Characters run into things, fall down and drive recklessly.
  • Rodrick locks Greg and Rowley in the basement.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

  • Scary-looking rock n roll posters in Rodrick’s bedroom of fire and skeletons.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

  • Nothing further noted.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

  • None noted, other than this movie being tied to the books and other movies in the franchise.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • Rodrick keeps money in his underwear.
  • Greg goes into the women’s toilet and is accused of being a “peeping tom” and is chased around wearing underwear.
  • The lead singer of Rodrick’s band says he’s, “got the mum vote – not to brag”.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

  • Rodrick is seen just in his underwear at the start of the movie.
  • Greg is chased around not wearing pants, just underwear.

Use of substances

  • None noted.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • Name calling, such as Rodrick calling Greg: “nerd” and “dummy”.
  • The band is called “Loded Diper” (pronounced loaded diaper).
  • References to “booty” during a Loded Diper song.
  • Other language, such as “heck”, “stupid”, “I swear”.

In a nutshell

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules is a comedic, action-adventure, animated film based on the novels and movies by the same name. This film is suitable for a family audience, though parents should note that this movie largely displays a negative relationship between brothers rather than demonstrating a positive one. The film contains mild violence and crude humour and warrants parental guidance from 6 to 7 years old.

The main messages from this movie are about conflict and conflict resolution; the consequences of breaking rules; and the ups and downs of sibling relationships.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • Responsibility
  • Teamwork
  • Friendship/relationships.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

  • Understanding that while sometimes mild violence in a movie is funny, if it happens in real life, it is not funny and somebody could be hurt.
  • The importance of being nice to your siblings.
  • Understanding that breaking rules has consequences whether in the case of being grounded or just taking responsibility for your actions.
  • The ramifications of lying and manipulating others, specifically parents.