Author Megan McDonald's third-grade spitfire Judy Moody makes her moody leap from the page to the big screen with much of the spit, if not her fire, intact.
"Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer" is a mild-mannered kids' comedy that makes for a pleasant-enough time killer. All garish colors, small-scale sight gags and kid-friendly one-liners, it lacks the comic spark that a recent "Wimpy Kid's" second diary also failed to deliver.
One thing Judy is not is wimpy. A tornado on a Spider Bike, a riot of noise and impulsiveness topped by an impossible mop of ginger hair, Judy (Jordana Beatty) is the one who organizes a contest so that she and her friends don't face another summer of "Snoresville." She comes up with challenges -- theme park rides to be conquered, scary movies to be endured, surfing skills to be mastered (they live in coastal Virginia), "ride an elephant" -- stuff like that. Accomplish a goal, earn "thrill points."
But before Judy can put her contest into motion, best pal Rocky (Garrett Ryan) is off to circus camp. That's a thrill-point victory all by itself. Amy (Taylar Hender) journeys to Borneo. And Judy's own parents flee to California, leaving her free-spirit Aunt Opal (Heather Graham) in charge. What can one do with "Aunt Awful" around?
Played by Heather Graham, she's a wandering artist with no driving or housekeeping skills. Opal gets Judy and her younger brother, Stink (Parris Mosteller), into the arts. But she's not much help at adding to Judy's thrill points collection.
Stink and his Big Foot obsession are the movie's comic highlights. Most of the adults are drab in the extreme, though Graham gamely tries to give Opal a loose-limbed hippie-trippy streak. Jaleel White scores as the beloved third-grade teacher, a guy given to breaking out the old banjo as he gives his class a challenge of his own -- track him down and figure out what he'll be doing this summer, based on his clues.
Director John Schultz ("Like Mike"), working from a script co-written by Judy's creator, can't make many of the gags -- vomiting on a roller coaster, a fanciful hunt for Big Foot, assorted pranks and a car chase -- deliver big laughs.
But young actress Beatty has a winning way with various Judy-isms -- no, Stink, she doesn't want your "ABC Peas, already been chewed." When she moodily doesn't like something, which is often, "It stinks on ice."
