Hence the bet, which represents, as only after-school specials and kids' movies can, what happens when a well-intentioned plan backfires. If Billy wants the teasing to stop, he'll have to prove that he isn't afraid of mean-spirited, freckle-faced Joe Guire. And to do that, he'll have to beat Joe at his own game — by earning his respect, one super-slimy, wriggly-tickly worm at a time.

Inside every boy is something twisted enough to take that dare. That's what's so great about Thomas Rockwell's book: Kids can satisfy their curiosity without having to eat a single worm.

Adapting the book himself, director Bob Dolman has added memorable new characters (including a lone girl, played by that dimpled devil child who used to shill for Pepsi, Hallie Kate Eisenberg) and heightened the stakes (the bet's loser has to go to school with worms in his pants), while preserving the book's gross-out spirit. As Billy's weird friend Adam points out, worms really are no more unusual than half the things we humans eat anyway. Someone had to be the first to look at a chicken and think, "Hey, that might taste good fried."

After a golden age of offerings from Jim Henson and Steven Spielberg in the '80s, Hollywood went through a decade-long dry spell of quality kids' movies. Things were so bad, Disney got away with three Mighty Ducks movies and infinite variations. Luckily, in the last few years, Walden Media came to the rescue, adapting such kiddie-lit favorites as Holes, Because of Winn-Dixie and the Narnia books into top-notch preadolescent adventures.

How to Eat Fried Worms is Walden's latest, and while far from being its best offering, the movie proves one thing about the company: The brand stands for something. Walt Disney spent decades building his reputation as the first name in family entertainment, but decades of sub-standard, borderline-inappropriate offerings (Shaggy Dog, The Pacifier and so on) have sullied that position. Meanwhile, in just seven features, Walden (in conjunction with several major studios, including Disney) has proved itself a dependable source for wholesome, original and well-crafted family stories.

True to form, How to Eat Fried Worms forgoes flatulence jokes for positive examples. The characters don't always make the right choices, but they learn from their mistakes, and when it comes time for the movie to impart its lessons, it does so in such a way that kids won't feel like they're being forced to eat their broccoli — or live worms — for that matter.

[as featured in The Miami Herald]