New boy in school deals with bully in a wholesome family comedy. The moral is: face a tyrant and win new friends. Only worms die in this character-builder about fifth-graders, adapted from the 1973 book by Thomas Rockwell, author of “Oatmeal Is Not For Moustaches” and “How to Fight a Girl.” Director Bob Dolman (“The Banger Sisters”) lends a decent, uncondescending touch to this conventional tale of Billy (Luke Benward) and the bully (Adam Hicks), who is like every other movie bully, a victim of his big brother’s bullying. Despite an overly sensitive stomach, Billy bets he can eat ten worms in one day. The loser must go to school with handfuls of worms in his pants. The plot tracks the shifting loyalties of the bully’s underlings as they gradually side with the valorous individual. Best part is the tallish girl branded “Giant” who helps Billy do the right thing. Erika (Hallie Kate Eisenberg) is an archer who wisely analyzes touchy, knotty situations using hypotheticals. “Boys are so weird,” she often says of classmates at Isaac Newton Junior High who giggle over “sphinx” sounding like “sphincter” and philosophize that “puke has a mind of its own.” With Tom Cavanagh, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, James Rebhorn, Austin Rogers, Alexander Gould, Ryan Malgarini, Philip Bolden, Clint Howard, Andrew Gillingham, Blake Garrett, Alexander Agate and Ty Panitz. 83m. 2.40 anamorphic widescreen. (Bill Stamet)
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