MOVIES ABOUT THE AWKward adolescent years generally leave a lot to be desired, because they?re too awkwardly conceptualized and produced. They also pander too much to the self-absorbed and feckless members of their intended audience by often casting parent characters as vicious villains.

Happily, that downbeat rule of thumb doesn?t apply to the current youth film, ?Diary of a Wimpy Kid.? As the title suggests, Greg (Zachary Gordon), the young protagonist in its story, isn?t the fair-haired, golden hope of his proud parents, but a certifiable loser who considers himself really lucky to simply, barely survive his first year in middle school.

Our wimpy hero?s older brother gives him really good advice when he tells him to arouse as little attention as possible, so that the big bullies at school won?t even know you exist and thus won?t bother beating you up to within an inch of your miserable life.

Instead, our little wimp wants to be a giant in the eyes of others, so he overreaches himself and sets himself up to emerging as a sorry loser in a very big way.

It?s good that he has a loyal friend in another certifiable wimp, Rowley (Robert Capron)?only, he doesn?t know it. He chooses to get into the good graces of the big guys on campus. Thus, he ends up taking his only friend for granted?and he even exploits him, setting him up as the clueless fall guy for one of his infractions.

Clueless hero

The wimpy friend may be loyal and trusting, but he soon reaches the end of his rope and ends the friendship. Only then does our clueless hero realize how much he?s allowed to slip through his fingers.

That?s only one of the many lessons young viewers can empathetically learn from ?Wimpy Kid??but, lightly, blithely, without being beaten on the head to attain illumination.

What makes the learning fun is the reality of the situations dramatized in the film. It helps a lot, too, that the young actors in the movie are perfectly cast, so they quickly ?disappear? into the characters they?re playing.

The film?s believability is ?earned? because it?s the movie version of a book

written by Jeff Kinney, who based his ?diary? on his own experiences when he was a full-time wimp in middle school.

This ?been there, done that? cachet enables the movie to impart life lessons with absolute credibility, so they?re learned by the film?s young viewers with uncommon pertinence and persuasive force.

All sorts of lessons are there for the learning, but one of the most significant and helpful could be the wimp?s final realization that his parents and his best buddy, precisely the very people he?s taken granted for years, should be valued, appreciated and loved above all else. May we all learn that lesson, as well!