Trying to make lightning strike twice

Trying to make lightning strike twice The key to successful children’s films in the modern era, at least those that aren’t animated, seems to be coming from the realm of book adaptations. Finding a successful series of books and coupling them with an unknown star, a modest budget and a high profile character actor or actress and you have the recipe for success. Diary of a Wimpy Kid followed this to massive amounts of success and now comes Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer, hoping to replicate that formula.
Based off the “Judy Moody” novels by Megan McDonald, the film follows the titular character (Jordana Beatty) as she sets off to have the best summer of her life. With her wacky Aunt Opal (Heather Graham) around to spice things up, and her younger brother Stink (Parris Mosteller) to annoy her, Judy has to find a way to keep herself entertained as her friends seem to be having a much more exciting and interesting summer than she is.
John Schultz is no stranger to live action films aimed at children, with a fairly extensive history in the genre, and as such it’s not shocking that he’d be one to handle this, but he’s been handed a bad hand to play. This is a film that relies on a fairly inexperienced cast of child actors as well as a poor script that culminates in one of the worst things to happen to children in a movie theatre in a long time. Having inexperienced and marginally talented children is one thing but the film’s faults lie in a script that does no one favors.