Diary of a Wimpy Kid Christmas: Cabin Fever is the third Animated Adaptation of the book series by Jeff Kinney, adapting the 6th book. It was released on Disney+ on December 8, 2023, with animation production by Bardel Entertainment.
Christmastime is here, and with it the stress of staying on the nice list. Greg Heffley accidentally damages the local snow truck with a giant snowball, leaving him paranoid when he thinks the authorities will find out, and because he and Rowley leave their headwear that would identify them in a toy drive box. Then, on top of this, a massive snowstorm snows the entire town in. Can Greg keep it together, or will he and the rest of the family crack?
The movie has examples of:
- Ascended Extra: The driver of the snow truck whose truck is always pelted by snowballs on Greg's street has a much more prominent role in the plot, being the direct victim of the accidental vandalism and turning out to be a kindly single mom who is doing her best for her son Tyler, as Greg later finds out.
- Adaptational Intelligence: The normally idiotic Rodrick manages to figure out that Greg and Rowley damaged the snow truck before everyone else does and even creates a device to recharge the family's doorbell camera as he tries to figure it out. Though he does think it was a Frame-Up at first.
- Adaptational Jerkass: Manny acts like even more of a Bratty Half-Pint than he did in the original book, openly teasing Greg with Santa's Scout, cheering when Rodrick talks about an urban legend involving a snowed-in family eating each other for survival and when a frazzled Frank stabs a gingerbread house with a steak knife, and there is much less ambiguity over how innocent he was when he hoarded all of the Heffleys' supplies while the rest of the family were freezing and starting to go stir-crazy.
- Adaptational Karma: Unlike in the book, Manny does not get let off the hook for hoarding the family's supplies and abandoning everyone. Frank hogties Manny into his car seat so he doesn't do it again, and he is noticeably disallowed from opening one present early while the rest of the family does directly afterward.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Greg gives up the game console he knows he was going to get for Christmas to Gabby and her son Tyler, knowing that it was the one gift Gabby was trying to get for him this Christmas. Additionally, Greg has no ulterior motive behind it either (though he does admit that he can always dream of eventually getting the next version of the console for Christmas some day), he does it explicitly because he felt it was the right thing to do.
- Christmas Episode: Just as the book it is adapting was, though Christmas is far more of a focus this time.
- Composite Character: The Santa's Scout doll is given the name of Greg's Creepy Doll from the original book, Alfrendo, while the baby doll itself never appears in the movie.
- Compressed Adaptation: Greg's school, the school bazaar, and many of the other book's various side-plots (like Greg's baby doll, Net Kritterz, and Greg's failed snow shoveling business) are dropped from the movie entirely, and as a result the vandalizing incident that gets Greg paranoid of he and Rowley going to jail is replaced with a freak accident with a giant snowball he and Rowley made that rolls down the street and damages a snow truck. The plot overall is parried down to just the snowstorm that snows everyone in. Frank is also at home during the snowstorm instead of away on business.
- Creepy Doll: The Santa's Scout doll retains its intentionally off-putting design from the book, and its creepiness is played way up.
- Eat the Evidence: Rodrick does this with the wanted poster of Greg and Rowley when he and the other Heffleys try to hide the evidence of Greg accidentally ruining the snowplow with a huge snowball to the police.
- Gender Flip: The driver of the snow truck is male in the book, but is a woman named Gabby in the movie.
- Imagine Spot: Greg has an extended one in which the police identify his (and by extension, Rowley's) winter gear and correctly deduce them as the culprit, after which a Jerkass guard (voiced by the late, great WWE Superstar Bray Wyatt!) tosses them in, taunts them about their predicament and laughs malevolently as he's joined by Elfrendo and Rodrick.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Manny is caught red-handed for hoarding supplies from the rest of the family, and this time he actually gets punished by being strapped into his car seat for a time-out.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: The movie ends with Greg hoping that nobody hears about everything their family went through that Christmas and turns it into a cheesy holiday special. "Because that would be my worst NIGHTMARE!"
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Just like within the book, Santa's Scout, who seems to pop up in different places throughout the movie and Greg just can't decide for sure if the doll is actually moving or if Rodrick is moving it around to mess with Greg. The ending does give a slight nudge toward the former when Santa's Scout shows up right outside Greg's window, but even then, there's still the slight implication that it might have just been Greg having a bad dream.
- Pet the Dog: When Manny was missing, everybody including Greg and Rodrick was worried and also looked for him. Showing that despite being annoyed by him (and in Rodrick’s case) weird out, they still cared about their baby brother.
- Present Peeking: How Greg finds out that he's getting the hot new video game console for Christmas; while getting wrapping paper down for Susan, he spots the game box buried in the back of the closet. Suddenly, Greg starts acting much nicer and more helpful around the house.
- Sanity Slippage: Frank starts to go through one when the supplies start dwindling and starts accusing the other family members in hoarding them all to themselves.
